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.

---

ramen British  

/ ˈrɑːmən /

noun

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

---

plural noun

1. thin white noodles served in such a broth

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ramens
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ramen

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

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

"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

“Stop whining, get a job, eat ramen like the rest of us did in college, on a budget with four roommates.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026

It allows people to bid, around the clock, on trading cards, designer fashion and instant ramen, auctioned live in high-energy shows within the app.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

I grew up on Maruchan’s chicken flavor ramen noodles, which are my go-to for making soups.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

“It’s okay, Grandma! I know how to make ramen with an egg. And I can make us grilled cheese sandwiches. But best of all, I can order food on my phone!”

From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh

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

This garlic tonkotsu shoyu ramen had the most fat of all the ramens we sampled.

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

Of the traditional ramens, my favorites are the shio, a supercharged chicken soup of phenomenal depth and clarity, and the vegetarian shoyu, darker and heartier, tasting of soy sauce and roasted mushrooms.

From New York Times ● Feb. 11, 2014