pastrami

American  

[puh-strah-mee] / pəˈstrɑ mi /

noun

1. a brisket of beef that has been cured in a mixture of garlic, peppercorns, sugar, coriander seeds, etc., then smoked before cooking.

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pastrami British  

/ pəˈstrɑːmɪ /

noun

1. highly seasoned smoked beef, esp prepared from a shoulder cut

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Etymology

Origin of pastrami

1935–40; < Yiddish pastrame < Romanian pastramă pressed, cured meat; a Balkanism of uncertain origin (compare Modern Greek pastramâs, Serbo-Croatian pȁstrma ), perhaps ultimately < Turkish pastιrma, taken as variant of bastιrma, equivalent to bastιr-, causative stem of bas- press, squeeze + -ma verbal noun suffix

Example Sentences

The pastrami sandwiches at Katz’s Delicatessen are iconic, but Meg Ryan’s impassioned exclamations at the deli in “When Harry Met Sally” may be even more iconic.

From Salon • Dec. 17, 2025

Mr. Margolick recounts Caesar eating four pastrami sandwiches in one sitting.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

Metropolitan Diary: What’s a vegetarian doing in a pastrami palace?

From New York Times • Jun. 19, 2023

For an article on deli sandwiches, she collected 104 corned beef and pastrami samples in one day to evaluate the meat and sandwich-building techniques.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 7, 2023

In a normal world, Dad would be ordering a double pastrami on rye while I got the ham and cheese with no tomato, no onion, and no lettuce.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller