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• gumbo
  gumbo

  noun

  a stew or thick soup, usually made with chicken or seafood, greens, and okra or sometimes filé as a thickener.
• Gumbo
  Gumbo

  noun

  a French patois spoken by Black and Creole people in Louisiana and the French West Indies.

gumbo

¹ American  

[guhm-boh] / ˈgʌm boʊ /

noun

gumbos plural

1. a stew or thick soup, usually made with chicken or seafood, greens, and okra or sometimes filé as a thickener.

2. okra.

3. soil that becomes sticky and nonporous when wet.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or like gumbo.

Gumbo ² American  

[guhm-boh] / ˈgʌm boʊ /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. a French patois spoken by Black and Creole people in Louisiana and the French West Indies.

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gumbo ¹ British  

/ ˈɡʌmbəʊ /

noun

1. the mucilaginous pods of okra

2. another name for okra

3. a soup or stew thickened with okra pods

4. a fine soil in the W prairies that becomes muddy when wet

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Gumbo ² British  

/ ˈɡʌmbəʊ /

noun

1. (sometimes not capital) a French patois spoken by Creoles in Louisiana and the Caribbean

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• gumbos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gumbo¹

1795–1805, < Louisiana French gombo, gumbo < a Bantu language; compare Umbundu ochinggombo, Luba chinggombo okra

Origin of Gumbo²

First recorded in 1835–40; probably from the same source as gumbo ( def. )

Explanation

Gumbo is a Louisiana Creole stew that's thick and spicy, usually containing shellfish and sausage and served over rice. When you're visiting New Orleans, you should definitely try some gumbo. One of gumbo's traditional thickeners is the vegetable called okra, which is sometimes also called gumbo, from the Angolan word kingombo. The ingredients of an authentic gumbo can vary a lot, though it almost always starts with celery, onions, and peppers and flavorful stock. From there, it needs a thickener (either a roux or cooked okra), spices, and meat or shellfish. Gumbo is the official food of the state of Louisiana.

Example Sentences

On a recent morning, Nones took photos for a cookbook, shooting portraits of residents who submitted recipes for Romanian stuffed cabbage and gumbo, coaching them from his chair.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 26, 2026

In the case of gumbo or succotash, it is a good thing.

From Salon • Apr. 1, 2025

And he makes this gumbo that’s fire, usually on Sundays.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2024

Luckily the street is an artists’ enclave, with some opening their homes for Hantman’s dinner receptions — one in January served gumbo family-style two doors down at a local artist’s Midcentury Modern house.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 29, 2024

You wanted to dissect the animals quickly, before the spontaneous liquefaction began, because you can’t dissect gumbo.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

Related Words

• bouillon
• chowder
• porridge
• puree