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Glite Dictionary
beef goulash

beef goulash

1 3.5
A thick stew of beef and paprika slowly cooked for a rich, warm meal
  • noun
  • /biːf ˈɡuːlɑːʃ/
translation icon : goulash de carne
  • I love beef goulash on cold winter nights.

Examples

  • You can prepare beef goulash in advance and reheat it for an even richer flavor the next day.

  • My grandmother’s recipe for beef goulash always includes plenty of paprika and fresh herbs.

  • After a long hike, we were served a hearty beef goulash with dumplings at the mountain inn.

  • Can you make beef goulash for dinner?

  • For dinner, I made a hearty beef goulash simmered with vegetables and spices.

  • The restaurant is famous for its rich beef goulash, served with fresh bread.

  • During the winter months, a warm bowl of beef goulash is the perfect comfort food.

Synonyms

stew
vsbeef goulash
110 1.0

A dish of meat or fish and vegetables cooked slowly in liquid

is a specific paprika flavoured Central European version not a generic slow cooked dish
goulash
vsbeef goulash
11 4.6

A rich meat and vegetable stew seasoned with paprika

focuses on one specific meat browned and then cooked slowly rather than mixed meats
beef stew
vsbeef goulash
9 1.0

A dish of beef cooked slowly with vegetables in liquid

includes paprika and Central European seasoning rather than plain or unspiced cooking
Hungarian goulash
vsbeef goulash
1 3.7

A rich meat and vegetable stew seasoned with paprika from Hungary

focuses on one specific meat browned before slow cooking rather than mixed meats

Surface Forms

beef goulash singular
beef goulashes plural

Morphology

beef + goulash

The meaning 'a goulash made with beef' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'beef' (meat from a cow) with 'goulash' (a type of stew). The pattern 'ingredient + dish' is cross-linguistically common and follows ordinary noun-noun modification, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the phrase's meaning.

Etymology

The dish beef goulash may come from Hungarian cattle herders who cooked meat and spices in one pot over the fire while watching their animals, and they called that simple stew goulash. That's why today beef goulash means a hearty, slow-cooked 'stew' of beef often flavored with paprika.