dried and often split legumes, especially lentils or peas.
a sauce or dish made from cooked lentils and spices, common in South Asian cuisine.
split grain, a common foodstuff in India; pulse
a variant spelling of dhal
First recorded in 1690–1700; from Hindi dāl “split pulse, cooked pulse,” from Sanskrit dala, from dāl- “to split”
From Arabic
Dal is an Indian dish made using lentils and many delicious spices. Next time you go to an Indian restaurant, try ordering dal. The Hindi word dal can be used for any bean or legume that's split in half and can be cooked without soaking it first. Its Sanskrit root, also dal, means "to split." Dal is also the soup or stew made from split lentils, one of the most popular dishes in South Asia. A typical dal is made with onions, tomatoes, and whole spices fried in oil, and it is eaten with rice or a flat bread.
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And there’s dal makhani, a North Indian dish that calls for black lentils, kidney beans and cream, and is typically enjoyed with rice.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026
Bone Sine in Portland, Ore., flecks its mix of nuts and chana dal with ground lime leaves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
I love the sizzle of the hot, spiced ghee when it is poured into the lentils, the way that dal envelops a bowl of rice like a hug.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 8, 2024
One man admitted that he bought up a lot of land "in exchange for rice and dal or a little money".
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2024
We sat down and ate them warm with dal.
From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani
Their local subdivisions are Leve and Karwa and many of them are also known as Dālia, because they made the dāl or pulse of Burhānpur, which had a great reputation under native rule.
From The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India - Volume IV of IV Kumhar-Yemkala by Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)
Dale, dāl, Dell, del, n. the low ground between hills: the valley through which a river flows.—n.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
Three days later, the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal held a protest in Uttar Pradesh state, demanding that the "cow protectors" be freed.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2026
Punjab's three main opposition parties - the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP - accuse the AAP government of rushing the law through the assembly without properly consulting Sikh religious institutions.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
The Walkers did approach another Pwllheli-based Welsh language bookshop with copies of How Not To Dal Dy Dir, and that bookshop stocked five copies of the novel.
From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026
For Siwan Morris, who stars in both series of Dal y Mellt, it was "lovely" for her Welsh-language work to be available to friends and colleagues abroad.
From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2026
It took me a moment to remember that Elxa Dal was the next master.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
