galangal
/ɡəˈlæŋɡəl/
galangal noun: any of several east Asian plants of genera Alpinia and Kaempferia in the ginger family, used as a spice, but principally Alpinia galanga.
Noun
galangal (countable and uncountable, plural galangals)
- Any of several east Asian plants of genera Alpinia and Kaempferia in the ginger family, used as a spice, but principally Alpinia galanga.
- The refreshing aroma of galangal acts in combination with and as a contrast to lemongrass in many recipes in this book.2008, Carol Selva Rajah, David Thompson, Heavenly Fragrance, page 144
- Another time, she dined in Hampstead, where she was fed a version of stargazy pie with a whole squid where the eel should have been. It was flavoured, for the full medieval effect, with galangal, which her hostess described as “kind of like frankincense”.2023 July 15, Rachel Cooke, “No, Nigella – dinner parties are great. Deliveroo just doesn’t cut it”, in The Observer, →ISSN
galangal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Gujarati
galangal in Hindi
- any of several plants of the ginger family
- कुलंजन kulañjan
galangal in Tamil
- galangal
- அரத்தை arattai
galangal in Bengali
- galangal
- গালানগল galangol
galangal in Gujarati
- any of several plants of the ginger family
- કોલિંજન koliñjan
More languagesFewer languages
- galangal in Sanskrit
- वनार्द्रका vanārdrakā, कुलञ्ज kulañja, गन्धमूल gandhamūla, तीक्ष्णमूल tīkṣṇamūla
- galangal in Tagalog
- langkawas
- galangal in Arabic
- خَوْلَنْجَان ḵawlanjān
- galangal in Malay
- lengkuas
- galangal in Indonesian
- laos, lengkuas
- galangal in Persian
- خسرو دارو xesru dâru, خسرودارو xesrudâru, خولنجان xawlenjân, xulenjân, خاولنجان xâwlanjân
- galangal in Thai
- ข่า kàa
- galangal in Vietnamese
- riềng
- galangal in Myanmar
- ပတဲကော pa.tai:kau:
Forms of galangal
| plural | galangals |
|---|---|
| alternative form | galingale |
| alternative form | galanga |
Origin of galangal
From Middle English galyngale, from Old French galingal, from Arabic خَلَنْجَان (ḵalanjān), from Persian قولنجان (qulenjân, qulanjân), from Sanskrit कुलञ्जन (kulañjana), perhaps from Chinese 高良薑／高良姜 (gāoliángjiāng), from 高涼 /高凉 (Gāoliáng) (a prefecture or county in China) + 薑 /姜 (jiāng, “ginger”).
Phrases with galangal
Questions about galangal
- What does galangal mean?
- Galangal means any of several east Asian plants of genera Alpinia and Kaempferia in the ginger family, used as a spice, but principally Alpinia galanga.
- What is galangal in Hindi?
- Galangal in Hindi is कुलंजन (kulañjan). See Galangal meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is galangal?
- Galangal is a noun.
- How do you pronounce galangal?
- Galangal is pronounced /ɡəˈlæŋɡəl/.
- What is the plural of galangal?
- The plural of galangal is galangals.
Words near galangal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: galangal (page history and authors); அரத்தை (Tamil) (page history and authors); গালানগল (Bengali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-galangal.ogg.
Cite this entry: “galangal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/galangal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.