Chinese

Noun

天麩羅

1. tempura

Synonyms

• 天婦羅／天妇罗 (tiānfùluó)
• 甜不辣 (tiánbùlà)
• 天富羅／天富罗 (tiānfùluó)

Japanese

天麩羅 (tenpura): a plate of shrimp tempura.

Etymology

From Portuguese, ultimately from Latin. Different dictionaries link two different original terms:

• Portuguese tempero ‎(“seasoning”) or tempera ‎(“he/she/it seasons; season!”), third-person present singular or imperative tense of temperar ‎(“to season, to temper”), from Latin temperare ‎(“to mix, to temper”).^[1][2][3]
• Portuguese têmpora ‎(“Ember days”), from Latin tempora, plural of tempus ‎(“time; period”). When Portuguese explorers (mostly Jesuit missionaries) arrived in Japan, they abstained from eating beef, pork, and poultry during the Ember days series of holidays. Instead, they ate fried vegetables and fish. This was the first contact of the Japanese with fried food, and since then they began associating the Portuguese word têmpora (which they pronounced tenpura) with such food.^[3][4]

The kanji are ateji.

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• (Tokyo) てんぷら [tèńpúrá] (Heiban - [0])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [tẽ̞mpɯᵝɾ̠a̠]

Alternative forms

• 天婦羅, 天ぷら, テンプラ, てんぷら

Noun

天麩羅 ‎(hiragana てんぷら, katakana テンプラ, romaji tenpura)

1. tempura: a Japanese dish made from seafood, chicken, or vegetables dipped in batter and deep fried

Derived terms

Coordinate terms

References

1. ↑ 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
3. 1 2 1995, 大辞泉 (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, ISBN 4-09-501211-0
4. ↑ 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13143-0