teriyaki

American  

[ter-uh-yah-kee] / ˌtɛr əˈyɑ ki /

noun

Japanese Cooking.

1. a dish of grilled slices of beef, chicken, or fish that have been marinated in soy sauce seasoned with sake, ginger, and sugar.

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adjective

1. prepared in this manner.

   chicken teriyaki.

teriyaki British  

/ ˌtɛrɪˈjækɪ /

adjective

1. basted with soy sauce and rice wine and broiled over an open fire

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noun

1. a dish prepared in this way

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.”

Example Sentences

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

But today, on lap number two, barely into my salmon teriyaki, which, by the way, should be called teriyaki salmon the same way barbecue chicken is barbecue chicken and not chicken barbecue.

From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds