Achara – from the Indian “archar” or pickled vegetables
Achuete/atsuete - annato seeds used for food coloring; of Mexican origin
Adobo – a dish of meat cooked in vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic
Alagaw – a medicinal plant whose leaf infusion is taken as diuretic
Aligi ng Talangka – fat from crablets
Alimasag – blue crab
Ampalaya – bitter melon
Ampao – a Chinese sweet delicacy
Anahaw – a variety of palm whose leaves are used as roofing material or made into fans
Apdo – bile
Arroz Caldo – (a.k.a pospas) rice gruel made with chicken; from the Spanish words arroz (rice) and caldo (broth)
Asado – braised pork or chicken with tomatoes and onion
Asim – sourness
Bacalao – salted and dried codfish
Bagnet – Ilocano name for deep-fried pork belly (see lechon kawali)
Bagoong Alamang – shrimp paste
Bagoong na isda – wet-salted anchovy sauce
Bahay-kubo – native hut
Bakod – wall or fence
Balo-balo – fermented rice with shrimp (see burong isda)
Balot – hard-boiled duck egg with a developed embryo
Banggerahan – plate rack by the window sill
Bangko – bench
Bangus – milkfish
Banig – sleeping mat
Barkada – group of friends one usually hangouts with
Barong – short for Barong Tagalog; native shirt for men worn on formal or festive occassions
Bayanihan – cooperative endeavor
Bibingka – native rice cake
Bihon – rice noodles used for pancit luglog and pancit gisado
Bilao – round shallow basket tray usually made of split bamboo
Biscocho – toasted bread snacks from IloIlo
Bistek – from beefsteak; beef or pork dish seasoned with kalamansi juice and soy sauce topped with caramelized onions.
Bitbit - any carried object dangling from the hand or fingers
Bopis – a savory dish made with pig’s innards
Brazo de mercedes – a dessert made with a rolled meringue stuffed with a creamy custard
Buhaghag – loose grain (applies to cooked rice)
Bulalo – boiled beef shank
Buko – young coconut
Burong Isda – fermented rice with fish
Burong talangka – raw salted crablets
Busog – full stomach
Champoy – Chinese dried salted fruits (see dikiam)
Chicharo – sweet peas
Chicharon – pork cracklings
Chico – Sapodilla fruit from the tree of the same name; marmalade plum
Cocido – from the Spanish boiled meats, chorizos, and vegetables. Same term is used in Zamboanga of the same dish, while in Bicol it refers to singing or sour soup.
Colegiala – college-age young lady
Dalandan – a native citrus fruit
Danggit – salted-dried surgeonfish
Dayap – native lime
Dikiam – a Chinese dried salted fruit
Dilaw – turmeric
Dinuguan – a stew of pig’s blood and innards cooked with vinegar
Duman-Pinipig – a Pampango delicacy of immature sticky rice variety, roasted and pounded till rice grains separate from husk
Dumara – migratory wild mallard ducks
Dyahe – a slang term for hiya, which means shame or embarrassment
Empanada – small turnover
Empanadita – small turnover
Eskinita – a narrow street
Estero – canal
Estofado – meat stew
Gabi – taro plant and tubers
Galantina – a chicken roulade stuffed with ground pork mixture
Galunggong – variety fish known as round scad
Gata – coconut milk
Ginataang gulay – vegetables cooked in coconut milk
Guinamos – a Visayan term for fermented by salting
Habol – to run after
Halo-halo – a cold refreshment consisting of mixed sweetened fruits and shaved ice
Hibi – dried shrimps
Hirit – salvo
Hito – catifish
Hopia – a small Chinese cake stuffed with sweetened mashed beans and sometimes with minced pork
Imbaliktad - Ilocano dish of beef meat lightly roasted then mixed with onion, ginger and vinegar.
Imbao – salt-water clams usually found in mangroves
Inasal – Visayan term for barbecued or grilled
Inihaw na bangus – grilled milkfish
Inihaw na pusit – grilled squid
Init – heat
Itik – native duck
Jalea – jam
Jaleang ube – jam made from purple yam
Kabayo- horse
Kadios - black eyed beans used in Visayan dishes
Kaimito - star apple
Kakang gata – first pressed coconut cream
Kakanin - native delicacies (usually refers specifically to rice cakes)
Kalabasa - pumpkin or squash
Kalamansi - native lemon
Kalderetang kambing - goat stew
Kalesa - horse-drawn carriage
Kamaru - edible mole crickets popular in Pampanga
Kamatis – tomato
Kamias – a sour fruit used principally in making Sinigang
Kamote - sweet potato
Kangkong – swamp cabbage
Kare-kare - oxtail in creamy peanut sauce
Karinderia – roadside eatery (see turo-turo)
Kasim - pork round
Kasuy – cashew
Kawa- vat
Kawali - wox or deep-frying pan
Kesong puti - soft white cheese made from carabao milk
Kibal - short stringbeans
Kilain/Kinilaw – a Pampango dish of pork meat, liver, and lung braised in vineg ar and garlic
Kilawin - raw fish or parboiled meat cooked in vinegar; ceviche
Kilig - shiver
Kropek - from Indonesian “kropuk,” a deep-fried crackling made from tapioca flour flavored with shrimp.
Kuhol - snail
Kutsinta – a brownish steamed rice cake made with lye and sweetened with brown sugar
Laing – gabi leaves cooked in coconut milk
Laman – meat
Langka/nangka- jackfruit
Lapu-lapu- grouper
Lasuna – Ilocano term for purple shallots
Leche Flan - caramel custard
Lechon – literally, “roast,” but the term is commonly used to refer to a whole roasted pig
Lechon kawali - deep fried pork belly
Lechon manok - roasted whole chicken
Lengua estofado - ox tongue stew
Liempo - pork belly
Lomo - loin
Longganisa - native pork sausage
Lumpia – fresh spring roll
Lumpiang ubod – a spring roll with palm heart filling
Macapuno - a variety of coconut with a thick soft meat
Malagkit - sticky or glutinous rice
Malasa - flavorful
Malinamnam - very tasty
Malunggay – horseradish tree whose leaves and seeds are eaten as vegetables
Mami - noodle soup
Mamon – a kind of sponge cake
Maya-maya - red snapper
Menudo - slow-simmered meat dish
Merienda – mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack
Miki- fat, yellow egg noodles
Misa de gallo – pre-dawn mass nine days prior to Christmas
Misua – very thin rice noodles
Molave – golden yellow-colored Philippine hardwood
Monay – local bread akin to a soft bun
Morcon – ground pork roulade
Munggo - mung beans
Mustasa - mustard
Nakakataranta -disconcerting
Nilaga - boiled meat and vegetable dish very much like the Spanish cocido but without the chorizos
Paho – small mangoes
Pakbet - an Ilocano vegetable dish flavored with bagoong na isda and topped with bagnet or grilled fish
Paksiw - a dish of fish braised in vinegar, garlic, and ginger
Palayok - clay pot used for cooking
Palitaw - a rice cake made of ground sticky rice, grated coconut, and sugar
Pancit canton - noodle dish sauteed with assorted meats and vegetables
Pancit luglog/Pancit palabok - rice noodles smoothered with a thick orange sauce (coloring from achuete ) flavored with shrimps (and oysters in Bulacan) and topped with crushed chicharon
Pandan - screwpine leaves
Pan de sal – small buns of salt bread
Pangat – a dish from Negros and Bicol made of gabi leaves cooked in coconut milk with pork and shrimps
Panocha/Panotsa – brown sugar molded in half coconut shell
Papaitan - an Ilocano dish made of goat or cow’s innards flavored with the bile
Pasalubong – take-home treats
Pasko- Christmas
Pastillas de leche - native candy made with carabao milk and sugar
Pata - pig’s legs and trotters
Patis- fish sauce
Pato - native duck
Patola - a vine-bearing, elongated, vari-angled vegetable
Pechay/petsay - native cabbage (bok choy type) with large green leaves and white petioles
Pesa - a soup dish made of boiled fish with rice and ginger
Pinipig - a delicacy of immature rice, roasted and pounded till flattened
Pla-pla - large hybrid tilapia
Polvoron - a native candy made of toasted powdered milk, flou, and sugar; sometimes made with pinipig
Puso ng saging – banana heart
Puto - rice cake
Puto bumbong - cigar-shaped rice cakes made from violet sticky rice steamed in bamboo tubes
Quekiam - a deep-fried Chinese meat roll
Saging saba - cooking plantain banana
Sala - living room
Salabat – ginger tea
Salakot – wide-brim hat
Saluyot - herb eaten as vegetable that is slimy when cooked
Samaral - rabbitfish
Sampalok – tamarind
Sans Rival - a multi-layered dessert made of crisp meringue sheets, smothered in between with a butter icing and crushed cashew nuts; from the French words “without rival”
Santo - saint; also refers to usually antique figurines
Santol - sandor tree and its fruit
Sapin-sapin - a multi-layered steamed rice cake made of groud sicky rice, coconut milk, and sugar
Sarap - delicious
Sari-sari – assorted or varied; used often to refer to a sari sari store, a small neighborhood grocery
Sawsawan - dipping sauce
Sayote - a pear-shaped vegetable of Mexican origin
Sebo – solidified fat
Sili – chili
Siling haba - (a.k.a. siling pangsigang ) mildly hot green finger chili for sinigang and paksiw
Siling labuyo – bird’s-eye chili
Sinangag – garlic fried rice
Sinanglaw – an Ilocano soup of boiled beef brisket and innards with coagulated blood
Singkamas - turnip; from Mexican jicamas
Sinigang - a soup dish of either fish, pork or beef with vegetables in a broth soured with acidic fruits of leaves
Siniguelas – Spanish plum
Siomai – Chinese steamed pork dumplings
Siopao – Chinese white steamed buns with meat filling
Sipsip - literally “to suck,” refers to a person who licks ass or sucks up to someone
Sisig - a Pampango dish of chopped grilled pig’s cheeks and chicken liver smoothered with onions, red-hot siling labuyo, and kalamansi juice
Sitaw – string bean
Suha – pomelo
Suka – vinegar
Sukang Iloko – naturally fermented sugarcane juice infused with dried samak, a medicinal plant
Sukang puti - (a.k.a sukang sasa) white vinegar from nipa palm
Suman - a rice cake wrapped in leaf
Tablea - chocolate tablet
Tagay – a toast (as in drinking wine)
Taho - silken Chinese bean curd mixed with brown syrup and sago (tapioca pearls) eaten as a snack
Talaba – oyster
Talakitok – (a.k.a pampano, maliputo, mamsa) Travelly or jackfish
Talangka – crablet
Tamales - a steamed savory or sweet rice pudding wrapped in banana leaves; of Mexican origin
Tanglad - lemongrass
Tanguigue - mackerel
Tapa – dried, salted meat much like beef jerky
Tapang baboy damo- dried wild-boar meat
Tapang usa - dried venison
Tausi - salted black soy beans
Tiangge - flea market
Tikim - to taste
Tiklis - bushel made of split bamboo
Tinapa - smoked fish
Tinola – Pampango sweet cured pork
Tocino del cielo - a small, very rich custard of pure egg yolks
Torta - an omelette dish of ground pork with diced potatoes, sweet peas, and red bell pepper. In the Visayas, it refers to an anise-flavored cake much like ensaimada.
Tortang talong – grilled-eggplant omelette
Toyo – soy sauce
Toyomansi - a sauce made of a mixture of soy sauce and kalamansi
Tsokolate - chocolate
Tuba - nipa nectar
Tulingan – mackerel
Turu-turo - literally meaning “point-point”, a roadside eatery (same as karinderia), referring to the manner one orders by pointing out the dish one desires in the display rack
Tuyo - dried fish
Ube -purple yam
Ubod - palm heart
Ukoy - fritters usually made of grated green papaya and topped with shrimps
Ulam - viand
Ulang – crayfish or freshwater prawns
Visita Iglesia - lenten tradition of visiting seven chunches during Holy Thursday
Walis - boom
Wansoy – cilantro
Yema - a native candy made of egg yolk, milk and sugar