Word.ws English Dictionary

halalflation

halalflation noun: an increase in the prices of street food in New York City, especially halal cart food.

Noun

halalflation (uncountable)

  1. (slang) An increase in the prices of street food in New York City, especially halal cart food.
    • New York is suffering from a crisis and it’s called halalflation. Chicken over rice now costs $10 or more. It’s time to make halal eight bucks again.2025 January 13, Emma Orlow, quoting Zohran Mamdani, Eater, page https://ny.eater.com/2025/1/13/24342837/zohran-mamdani-halal-food-inflation-mayor-candidate
    • He [Zohran Mamdani] coined the term “Halalflation” while discussing rising food costs from inside a food cart, and later explained ranked-choice voting in Urdu using cups of lassi, a yogurt-based beverage, as props.[2025 June 27, Dylan Wells, Hunter Tatum, “Mamdani’s online engagement translated at the ballot box”, in The Washington Post, page A.7

Examples of halalflation in a sentence

  • With cameras rolling, the fresh-faced Democrat mainlined a takeout container as he explained in simple terms how the city’s arcane permitting process was squeezing vendors and driving “halalflation.”2025 July 1, Nicholas Fandos, Benjamin Oreskes, Emma G Fitzsimmons, Jeffery C Mays, “How Zohran Mamdani Stunned New York and Won the...
  • Breaking up this city-enforced cartel and issuing permits to anyone who applied for one, Mamdani said, would end the "Halalflation" that had raised the cost of a chicken and rice plate from $8 to $10.2026 February/March, Christian Britschgi, “The two faces of Zohran Mamdani”, in Reason, volume 57, number 9, page 27:

Origin of halalflation

Blend of halal + inflation, coined by Zohran Mamdani.

Questions about halalflation

What does halalflation mean?
Halalflation means an increase in the prices of street food in New York City, especially halal cart food.
How do you use halalflation in a sentence?
With cameras rolling, the fresh-faced Democrat mainlined a takeout container as he explained in simple terms how the city’s arcane permitting process was squeezing vendors and driving “halalflation.”
What part of speech is halalflation?
Halalflation is a noun.

Words near halalflation in the dictionary

  1. halalcor
  2. halalcore
  3. halalcores
  4. halalcors
  5. halaled
  6. halalflation
  7. halalified
  8. halalifies
  9. halalify
  10. halalifying
  11. halaling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: halalflation (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.

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Cite this entry: “halalflation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/halalflation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.