ramen

American  

[rah-muhn] / ˈrɑ mən /

noun

Japanese Cooking.

• ramens
  plural

1. (used with a singular verb) a bowl of clear soup containing noodles, vegetables, and often bits of meat.

2. (usually used with a plural verb) the Asian wheat noodles used in this soup.

   I prefer the wavy ramen to the straight ones.

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ramen British  

/ ˈrɑːmən /

noun

1. a Japanese dish consisting of a clear broth containing thin white noodles and sometimes vegetables, meat, etc

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plural noun

1. thin white noodles served in such a broth

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ramens
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of ramen

First recorded in 1960–65; from Japanese rāmen, from Chinese lāmiàn literally, “pull noodle”

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Explanation

Ramen is a delicious Japanese noodle dish that's most often served in a hot broth. Whether you use chop sticks or a spoon, there's a lot of slurping involved in eating ramen. While ramen was invented in Japan, it was heavily influenced by southern Chinese noodle dishes. The name itself is a Japanese translation of the Mandarin Chinese lāmiàn, or "pulled noodles." You can use ramen for the noodle soup, topped with tofu, nori, scallions, sliced pork, or egg — and you can also refer to the wheat noodles themselves as ramen.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ramen ramens

He’s shadowed a dog groomer, a radio show host and a ramen shop owner, and is reviewing requests from an airline captain and a tattoo artist.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

Here, Onwuachi shares a recipe for some seriously zhuzhed-up instant ramen, how his mother’s influence shows up in his cooking and the culinary advice he plans to give his 1-year-old daughter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

"You can literally get a bowl of life-changing ramen for £3/£4 compared to a rubbish one here for like £20," says Faye Jawad, 26, who reviews restaurants on TikTok and visited Japan last year.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

From garlic-lemon sautéed greens to ramen topped with baby bok choy, here are a few great meals to make with just a box of chicken stock.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

Instead, they watched television and ate ramen or canned soup as the hours and days slipped away like water.

From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss

Country is forced to choose between buying a couple precious ramens with his commissary money or saving up weeks of pay to buy a tube of Crest.

From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2018

It’s a sparse menu, only two ramens with a couple of sides, which makes it all the more maddeningly frustrating that it’s not more consistent. 

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 1, 2018

There are five ramens, including some vegetarian options, and a long list of appetizers, including fried chicken, braised pork belly and gyoza dumplings.

From New York Times ● May 30, 2017

Some of chef and co-owner Metinee “May” Lieppert’s ramens channel the aggressive, fermented flavors of her homeland in northeast Thailand, where the chili pepper heat rivals the sun’s during those unforgiving Isaan summers.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 9, 2015

There are more than a dozen ramens on the menu, and although they all are based on the same chicken broth except the clear and robust vegetarian soup, the flavors are pleasingly varied.

From New York Times ● Sep. 27, 2011

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