Tandoori
/tænˈdʊəri/noun
Cooked in or associated with a tandoor, a cylindrical oven traditionally heated with charcoal or wood.
Did you know?The word ultimately traces to an ancient Near Eastern word for an oven, linking modern tandoori cuisine to one of humanity’s earliest high-heat cooking technologies.
Etymological Timeline
2nd Millennium BCE or earlier
Akkadian
tinuru
“An oven or baking furnace; an early recorded form associated with the ancient Near East.”
Ancient Semitic usage
Aramaic
tnura
“Oven or furnace.”
Classical and Medieval Arabic
Arabic
tannūr
“A cylindrical oven, often used for baking bread and cooking food.”
Medieval Persian
Persian
tanūr
“Oven or furnace; the source of the South Asian culinary term.”
Medieval Hindi and Urdu
Hindi/Urdu
tandūrī
“Of or relating to the tandoor.”
Modern English
English
tandoori
“Cooked in a tandoor, especially food marinated and roasted at high heat.”