sesame
Syllables: ses·a·meUK/ˈsɛsəmi//ˈsɛsəmi/
sesame noun: a tropical Asian plant (Sesamum indicum) bearing small flat seeds used as food and as a source of oil.
Noun
sesame (countable and uncountable, plural sesames)
- A tropical Asian plant (Sesamum indicum) bearing small flat seeds used as food and as a source of oil.
- The seed of this plant.
- First, marinate the tofu. In a bowl, whisk the kecap manis, chilli sauce, and sesame oil together. Cut the tofu into strips about 1cm thick, mix gently (so it doesn't break) with the marinade and leave in the fridge for half an hour.2012 May 8, Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, Random House, →ISBN, page 79
- Synonyms:
- sesame seed
sesame meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sesame in Hindi
- plant
- तिल til, तील tīl, पवित्र pavitra, पितृतर्पण pitŕtarpaṇ, पापघ्न pāpaghna, पूतधान्य pūtdhānya
- seed
- तिल til, तील tīl, पवित्र pavitra, पितृतर्पण pitŕtarpaṇ, पापघ्न pāpaghna, पूतधान्य pūtdhānya
sesame in Tamil
- plant
- எள் eḷ
- seed
- எள் eḷ
sesame in Marathi
- sesame, Sesamum indicum
- तीळ tīḷ
sesame in Urdu
- plant
- تل til, سِمْسِم simsim
- seed
- تل til, سِمْسِم simsim
More languagesFewer languages
- sesame in Bengali
- তিল til
- sesame in Telugu
- నువ్వులు nuvvulu
- sesame in Malayalam
- എള്ള് eḷḷŭ
- sesame in Kannada
- ಎಳ್ಳು eḷḷu
- sesame in Punjabi
- ਤਿਲ til
- sesame in Gujarati
- તલ tal
- sesame in Odia
- ତିଳ tiḷa
- sesame in Sanskrit
- तिल tila
- sesame in Assamese
- তিল til
- sesame in Tagalog
- linga
- sesame in Arabic
- سِمْسِم simsim, جُلْجُلان juljulān
- sesame in Malay
- bijan, lenga
- sesame in Indonesian
- wijen, bijan, sesam
- sesame in Persian
- کنجد konjed
- sesame in Thai
- งา ngaa
- sesame in Vietnamese
- mè, vừng
- sesame in Myanmar
- နှမ်း hnam:, နှမ်းစေ့ hnam:ce.
Examples of sesame in a sentence
- Customer: I'd like a sesame bagel, please. Waiter: Sorry, hon, we're fresh out of sesame. How about sourdough?
- The distinguishing flavour of sundubu jjigae comes from sauteing gochugaru (Korean red chilli powder) in sesame oil.
- There it was, the frikadelle, inside a sliced sesame bun, sunk in on itself by that point.
Synonyms of sesame
Forms of sesame
| plural | sesames |
|---|---|
| alternative form | sesamé |
| alternative form | sesamë |
Origin of sesame
From late Middle English sisamie, from Latin sīsamum, sēsamum, from Ancient Greek σήσαμον (sḗsamon), from Aramaic שושמא (šūššmā), shortening of שומשומא (šumššumā), from Akkadian 𒊭𒈦𒌑𒈬 (šamaššammū, “oil plant”), compound of 𒉌𒄑 (šaman, “oil”) and 𒌑 (šammum, “plant”). The modern pronunciation is perhaps influenced by (transliterations of) Greek σησάμη (sisámi). Doublet of sesamum.
Words formed from sesame
Phrases with sesame
Words that rhyme with sesame
Questions about sesame
- What does sesame mean?
- Sesame means a tropical Asian plant (Sesamum indicum) bearing small flat seeds used as food and as a source of oil.
- What is sesame in Hindi?
- Sesame in Hindi is तिल (til), तील (tīl), पवित्र (pavitra). See Sesame meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sesame?
- Sesame is a noun.
- How do you pronounce sesame?
- Sesame is pronounced /ˈsɛsəmi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of sesame?
- The plural of sesame is sesames.
Words near sesame in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sesame (page history and authors); तीळ (Marathi) (page history and authors); તલ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ତିଳ (Odia) (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-sesame.wav.
Cite this entry: “sesame.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sesame. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.