All 1025 words Journeys Roots Languages Beyond English Method

More

Languages A–Z Pricing Developers & API

Built by Quentin.Code

Food & drinkMyths & disputes

satay

Skewered grilled meat from Java and the Malay world; the OED traces Malay satai and Javanese saté to Tamil catai, 'flesh'.

Weakest linkProbable

The story you may have heard

That satay is Hokkien saⁿ tè (bah) 'three pieces (of meat)'. Wikipedia calls this unlikely.

The road to English

From Malay to Hokkien (Min Nan), Mandarin Chinese

From Malay to Dutch

From Malay to Indonesian

From Malay to Thai

From English to Japanese

Sources

Wiktionary: satay
Wiktionary: sate
Wikipedia: Satay

1500Tamil

Export “satay”

Embed “satay”

Save “satay”

1500
1800
1930

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.