kebab

American  

[kuh-bob] / kəˈbɒb /

Also kebob, or kabob

noun

• kebabs
  plural

1. Usually kebabs small pieces of meat or seafood seasoned or marinated and broiled, often with tomatoes, green peppers, onions, or other vegetables, usually on a skewer.

2. (in Indian English use) roast meat.

3. Digital Technology. kebab menu.

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kebab British  

/ kəˈbæb /

noun

1. Also called: shish kebab, kabob, cabob. a dish consisting of small pieces of meat, tomatoes, onions, etc, threaded onto skewers and grilled, generally over charcoal

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• kebabs
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of kebab

First recorded in 1665–75; from Arabic, from Hindi kabāb, from Turkish kebap “roast meat”

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Explanation

A kebab is a dish of vegetables, meat, or seafood cut into pieces, skewered, and cooked on a grill. On the first day of summer, your family might like to cook kebabs and have all the neighbors over. In the U.S., a kebab is generally understood to be a shish kebab — marinated cubes of meat alternating with chunks of onion, green pepper, or other veggies on a long skewer and cooked over a fire. English speakers outside of North America are more familiar with the doner kebab, a sandwich similar to a gyro or shawarma, with sliced meat served in a flatbread. The Arabic root word, kabāb, means "roasted meat."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kebab kebabs

"Turkish food, like kebab," says rapper Sude Oktay, before adding mantı, a traditional Turkish dumpling dish.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

It sits right on the pedestrian promenade in the busy downtown port area, making it easy to pair with a kebab lunch and a scoop of local ice cream.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026

“Wouldn’t it be a horror vision if we had to drink little glasses of Kölsch, or if döner kebab and pizza were on every corner of the festival grounds?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

"A consumer buying a kebab knows it's probably not the best quality ingredients, but it's still got to be what it says it is," said Harries.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

For lunch, Rasheed took her to eat in a small kebab house near a mosque he called the Haji Yaghoub.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

The menu includes chicken kebabs, fish branzino, pierogies and borscht.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026

The diplomats from Big Ranch have spent the past few weeks traveling around the continent, slathering it on escargot, quiches, croque monsieurs, kebabs, fish and chips, pierogies and raclette—or ranchclette.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

STK’s thick, well-marbled filet mignon is perfect for kebabs with little more than salt and freshly cracked pepper.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

Investigators raided the Kismet factory in Essex in May 2021 to find out what was in the kebabs, as takeaways thought they were buying lamb as advertised on the package.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Making kebabs is my one and only superpower.

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

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