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

Explanation

Pastrami is a thin-sliced kind of sandwich meat you can find at any good deli. You might order a pastrami sandwich on rye bread for lunch every Tuesday. Pastrami is a type of dark, smoked beef that is typically shaved very thin, and piled between sandwich bread, usually rye, and occasionally topped with coleslaw. A great place to sample pastrami is at a traditional Jewish delicatessen — and the word itself comes from the Yiddish pastrame, which is probably rooted in the Turkish basdirma, "dried meat."

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

When I wrote about Norm Langer saying he might retire and close his Westlake restaurant because of festering problems in the neighborhood, Bass went to hear him out over a pastrami sandwich.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 14, 2024

But as Levy slept weakly in the mud, dreaming of pastrami and other treats back home, he is startled by the sound of motors — airplanes clearly marked as American.

From Seattle Times • May 8, 2024

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