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Glite Dictionary
gefilte fish

gefilte fish

3 9.3
A traditional Jewish dish of cooked balls made from ground fish mixed with eggs and breadcrumbs
  • noun
  • /ɡəˈfɪltə fɪʃ/
translation icon : pescado gefilte
  • Alice, you don't put the horseradish directly on the gefilte fish.
  • a jar of gefilte fish
  • gefilte fish and chicken soup
  • served gefilte fish

Examples

  • Schiller bought some food to take to the hospital: a roast chicken, kasha varnishkes, a three-bean salad, and a quart of gefilte fish.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • As you may know, chopping up gefilte fish takes a long time.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The pope eats gefilte fish on Friday.

    The Big Red One (1980)

  • You mean, it isn't all gefilte fish?

    The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962)

  • A whole case of bottled gefilte fish.

    The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962)

  • "Time for the gefilte fish," Estelle announces.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Also, no store dealing in kosher specialties in New York would think of selling gefilte fish in a jar rather than fresh.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Tourists from Italy eating omelettes, bagels and lox, gefilte fish, baba ganoush, and whatnot served up by a waiter wearing a yarmulke.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The request is granted, and the Jew is escorted by a Sabra angel in blue and white striped wings to an opulent hotel suite where he is served gefilte fish, chicken soup, and cholent washed down with sweet red wine.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • In many Jewish households, gefilte fish is traditionally served during the Passover Seder meal.

Synonyms

fish cake
vsgefilte fish
2 2.0

A small fried patty made from flaked fish mixed with potatoes

is made as simmered, seasoned balls or cakes using breadcrumbs or matzo meal
fish ball
vsgefilte fish
  • UK
2.6

A small round piece of fish cooked and eaten as a snack or in soup

is a specific traditional dish simmered in seasoned stock rather than a generic snack

Surface Forms

gefilte fish singular
gefilte fishes plural

Morphology

gefilte + fish

Gefilte fish contains the Yiddish loanword 'gefilte', which is not an English morpheme whose meaning a B1 learner would infer from form; knowing 'fish' only indicates a fish-related food but does not allow a learner to derive the specific sense (ground/fish cakes or balls). The expression is culture-specific and its full meaning is idiomatic within Jewish culinary usage, so it is not predictable from its parts for most learners.

Etymology

Gefilte fish comes from Yiddish, and the word gefilte may come from a word meaning 'filled'. People used to put a filling into small fish or make fish paste into balls or cakes and cook them, so the name points to the 'filled' way of making the dish.