paella

noun

pa·​el·​la pä-ˈā-yə 

-ˈāl-yə,

-ˈe-lə,

-ˈā-lə 

: a saffron-flavored dish containing rice, meat, seafood, and vegetables

Examples of paella in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

On the food menu are Spanish classics like paella, croquetas fritters, and patatas bravas, or crispy potatoes, along with colorful summer salads and crowd-pleasers like burgers and sandwiches. —Siobhan Reid, Travel + Leisure, 8 Sep. 2025

Perez didn’t give up — getting through the COVID-19 pandemic, making paella out of her home for family and friends, while raising her children as a single mother and working as a real estate agent. —Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 27 Aug. 2025

At Casa Dani, García pushes Andalusian flavors into a modern Mediterranean menu that stretches from paellas to croquetas to seafood pastas. —Keyla Vasconcellos, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025

Mercifully, the guests go to bed after dinner, for which Anthony serves a seafood paella and a lemon tart with candles to celebrate Jason’s birthday, and both are so good that even these demons can’t find anything wrong with them. —Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 8 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

Catalan, literally, pot, pan, from Middle French paelle, from Latin patella small pan — more at patella

First Known Use

circa 1892, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for paella

• shigella

Kids Definition

paella

noun

pa·​el·​la pä-ˈel-ə  -ˈāl-yə 

-ˈā-yə

: a Spanish dish of rice, meat, seafood, vegetables, and spices