Paella
/paˈeʎa/noun
A Spanish rice dish, typically cooked in a wide shallow pan with saffron and other ingredients.
Did you know?Paella is named after the shallow pan it’s cooked in, from Latin patella, a “small pan” or “dish,” which also gave English the word patella for the kneecap.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
patella
“A small pan, shallow dish, or tray”
Medieval Catalan/Valencian
Catalan
paella
“A frying pan or shallow cooking pan”
14th-15th Century
Catalan/Valencian
paella
“The pan used for cooking a rice dish”
19th Century
Spanish
paella
“The rice dish cooked in the paella pan”
Modern English
English
paella
“The Spanish rice dish”