dumpling

American  

[duhmp-ling] / ˈdʌmp lɪŋ /

noun

dumplings plural

1. a rounded mass of steamed and seasoned dough, often served in soup or with stewed meat.

2. a dessert consisting of a wrapping of dough enclosing sliced apples or other fruit, boiled or baked.

3. a short or stout person.

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dumpling British  

/ ˈdʌmplɪŋ /

noun

1. a small ball of dough cooked and served with stew

2. a pudding consisting of a round pastry case filled with fruit

   apple dumpling

3. informal a short plump person

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• dumplings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dumpling

1590–1600; dump (of uncertain origin) + -ling ¹

Compare meaning

How does dumpling compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• gyoza vs. dumpling

Explanation

A dumpling is a delicious, bite-sized food that's made of savory ingredients wrapped in dough and cooked. Chinese dumplings can be steamed, boiled, or fried. If you order dumplings in a Chinese restaurant, you'll get a filling made with vegetables, meat, or fish — it might be a wonton, cooked in a soup, or a potsticker, steamed and then lightly fried. Most cultures have some version of a savory dumpling, and many have sweet dumplings as well, like apple dumplings, which have a fruit filling wrapped in pastry.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dumpling dumplings

On the stovetop, it stays brothy and spoonable, somewhere between a chowder and a dumpling soup.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026

But that has largely been the result of viewers dumpling cable, not actual growth in the market, data show.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 30, 2026

Din Tai Fung is a family business that sold its first dumpling in Taipei in 1972 and now numbers more than 165 locations worldwide.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2025

Mahan paused, his chopsticks hovering over a custard dumpling.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2025

Ernie was looking rather grumpy; determined to outshine Harry for once, he had most rashly invented his own potion, which had curdled and formed a kind of purple dumpling at the bottom of his cauldron.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

Trader Joe’s, of course, has done its part to thaw people’s feelings toward the freezer aisle: the orange chicken, the soup dumplings, the cheese-filled fiocchetti with pink sauce.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

This recipe — a skillet dinner built from frozen dumplings, frozen corn, a bag of peppers and onions, coconut milk and miso — I should confess, lives much closer to the latter.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026

In a tiny Tokyo restaurant filled with the smell of Nepalese dumplings, Budhathoki Samjhana surveys the business she built from scratch but may now have to give up as Japan tightens visa rules.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

Plates in restaurants regularly carry meat and dumplings, as if you were ordering from an Austrian or German menu.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

He took the dumplings and wrapped them in a towel.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri

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