Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word tamale. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word tamale, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say tamale in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word tamale you have here. The definition of the word tamale will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition oftamale, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Mexican dish of cornmeal dough shell filled with various ingredients (e.g. chopped beef, pork, sweet filling) then steamed in corn husks.
Usage notes
The standard Spanish singular is tamal, and thus some proscribe tamale as an incorrect back-formation, preferring to use tamal as the English singular. The similarity of tamale to the ancestral Nahuatl tamalli is not generally cited in support of the English usage of tamale as its spelling does not match with the Nahuatl spelling and the word originally entered via Spanish in the form of tamales.
