Jump To:

• curry
  curry

  noun

  a pungent dish of vegetables, onions, meat or fish, etc., flavored with various spices or curry powder, and often eaten with rice.
• Curry
  Curry

  noun

  John (Anthony), 1949–94, British figure skater.

curry

¹ American  

[kur-ee, kuhr-ee] / ˈkɜr i, ˈkʌr i /

Sometimes currie

noun

curries plural

1. East Indian Cooking. a pungent dish of vegetables, onions, meat or fish, etc., flavored with various spices or curry powder, and often eaten with rice.

2. any dish flavored with curry powder or the like.

   a lamb curry.

3. curry powder.

---

verb (used with object)

curried, currying

1. to cook or flavor (food) with curry powder or a similar combination of spices.

   to curry eggs.

idioms

1. give (someone) a bit of curry, to rebuke, discipline, or criticize; harass.

curry ² American  

[kur-ee, kuhr-ee] / ˈkɜr i, ˈkʌr i /

verb (used with object)

curried, currying

1. to rub and clean (a horse) with a currycomb.

2. to dress (tanned hides) by soaking, scraping, beating, coloring, etc.

3. to beat; thrash.

---

idioms

1. curry favor, to seek to advance oneself through flattery or fawning.

   His fellow workers despised him for currying favor with the boss.

Curry ³ American  

[kur-ee, kuhr-ee] / ˈkɜr i, ˈkʌr i /

noun

1. John (Anthony), 1949–94, British figure skater.

2. John Steuart 1897–1946, U.S. painter.

---

curry ¹ British  

/ ˈkʌrɪ /

noun

1. a spicy dish of oriental, esp Indian, origin that is made in many ways but usually consists of meat or fish prepared in a hot piquant sauce

2. curry seasoning or sauce

3. slang to assault (a person) verbally or physically

---

verb

1. (tr) to prepare (food) with curry powder or sauce

curry ² British  

/ ˈkʌrɪ /

verb

1. to beat vigorously, as in order to clean

2. to dress and finish (leather) after it has been tanned to make it strong, flexible, and waterproof

3. to groom (a horse)

4. to ingratiate oneself, esp with superiors

---

Curry ³ British  

/ ˈkʌrɪ /

noun

1. John ( Anthony ). 1949–94, British ice skater: won the figure-skating gold medal in the 1976 Olympic Games

---

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• curries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of curry¹

First recorded in 1590–1600, from Tamil kaṟi “sauce, relish”

Origin of curry²

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English curreien, curraien, curry, from Anglo-French curreier, Old French corroier, earlier conreer “to make ready,” from Vulgar Latin conrēdāre (unrecorded); see origin at corody

Explanation

Curry is a South Asian-style dish of vegetables or meat in a very flavorful, spicy sauce. You can try many types of curry in an Indian restaurant. There are different curries from different parts of Asia — a Thai curry, for example, might consist of shrimp and vegetables in a rich yellow sauce. When curry is a verb, it can mean "make curry," but it's more commonly "groom a horse." A curry comb, in fact, is specially made for this purpose. This curry comes from the Anglo-French curreier, "to comb a horse," while the dish has a Tamil root, kari, "sauce."

Example Sentences

Served with rice and warm bread for dragging through the sauce, it landed somewhere between curry, stew and strategic fridge clean-out — which, honestly, is one of my favorite genres of cooking.

From Salon • May 12, 2026

And what are the incentives for Republican lawmakers to curry favor with these figures?

From Slate • May 7, 2026

The pumpkin rice and peas, seasoned with thyme, from Dominica was a good complement to the Trinidadian curry shrimp, whose pot was licked clean.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

"There's not a lot going on anymore unless you want a pub or a curry," adds Hancock.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

When I get home from school, I find Mama in the kitchen, her citizenship study guide open on the counter as she stirs a curry on the stove.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

Related Words

• sauce
• seasoning