teriyaki
Americannoun
adjective
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of teriyaki
1960–65; < Japanese, equivalent to teri glaze + yaki broil
Explanation
Teriyaki is a Japanese dish of meat or seafood glazed in a savory sauce and cooked on a grill. You can find chicken or beef teriyaki on the menu at many Chinese and Korean restaurants too. In the West, teriyaki is often made with a thick, sweet marinade, and you can even buy teriyaki sauce to pour on meat, fish, vegetables, or rice. In Japan, the dish usually consists of meat or fish basted with a thinner mixture of soy sauce, rice wine, and sake, and grilled. The word teriyaki comes from teri, “to shine,” and yaki, "to grill.”
Vocabulary lists containing teriyaki
World Cuisine - Introductory
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World Cuisine - Middle School and High School
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Foods from Asia
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For about $20, you could enjoy a baked Idaho potato heaped with teriyaki beef at the taxidermy-adorned Pioneer Saloon; or green curry chicken and Taiwanese-style eggplant at Rickshaw.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
Drifting from Baltimore to Anaheim, he worked at a fish shop, a deli, an ice factory and a painting company before settling in Seattle, where he opened a teriyaki restaurant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2024
Specific meal options include tomato basil soup with pasta, teriyaki rice, chicken flavored noodle soup, crunchy granola, vanilla pudding and more.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2024
Instead of lettuce the base here is typically a cooked grain like rice or quinoa, which is topped with steamed or sauteed vegetables and beans then drizzled with a sauce like pesto or teriyaki.
From National Geographic ● Oct. 19, 2023
Her cook prepared for Woody a special meal of teriyaki fish, its sauce enriched by the gift of sugar, and Toyo served it on one of her few remaining treasures, a fine set of porcelain.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
