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Glite Dictionary
Ethiopian meal

Ethiopian meal

4.0
A shared meal of Ethiopian dishes like injera and spiced stews
  • noun
translation icon : comida etíope
  • She prepared an elaborate Ethiopian meal for her friends, complete with traditional coffee ceremony.

Examples

  • Their first experience of an Ethiopian meal introduced them to unique flavors and communal dining.

  • I enjoyed an Ethiopian meal last night.

  • We ordered an Ethiopian meal with doro wat and injera for dinner.

  • Have you ever tried an Ethiopian meal?

  • At the festive gathering, everyone enjoyed a traditional Ethiopian meal that featured injera and various flavorful stews.

  • We celebrated our anniversary by trying an authentic Ethiopian meal, complete with spiced lentils and homemade injera.

  • After visiting the Ethiopian restaurant, I discovered that an Ethiopian meal typically includes a variety of dishes served on a large platter.

Surface Forms

Ethiopian meal singular
Ethiopian meals plural

Morphology

Ethiopian + meal

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'Ethiopian' (relating to Ethiopia) with 'meal' (a food event); a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to food or a meal from Ethiopia. The adjective+noun pattern is productive and cross-linguistically common, so the expression is immediately comprehensible.

Etymology

The phrase Ethiopian meal comes from how people in Ethiopian homes eat together: they spread a large sour flatbread called injera and put spicy stews on it so everyone shares from the same plate. That's why it now means 'a meal of traditional Ethiopian foods like injera and spiced stews'.