banh mi

noun

ˈbän-ˈmē 

plural banh mi also banh mis

: a usually spicy sandwich in Vietnamese cuisine consisting of a split baguette filled typically with meat (such as pork or chicken) and pickled vegetables (such as carrot and daikon) and garnished with cilantro and often cucumbers

Here we have the original banh mi—a reliable favourite on a classic crusty baguette. Cold cut-style pork belly, chicken liver pâté (you can sub in avocado if that's more your thing), and soy-based Vietnamese sausage are finished with pickled carrots and daikon … , cucumbers, cilantro, aïoli and special sauce.

—Liza Agrba

In Queen Anne, the Vietnamese coffee shop Queen Càphê serves banh mis and spring rolls.

—Tan Vinh

Examples of banh mi in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Say farewell to Vietnam with a final banh mi fix – in this case, one purchased first thing in the morning from Banh Mi Huynh Hoa at 26 Lê Thị Riêng. —Tamara Hinson, Condé Nast Traveler, 27 Mar. 2026

Its first and only Charlotte restaurant opened in September 2024, offering a wide variety of banh mi sandwiches on a traditional French baguette, CharlotteFive previously reported. —Tanasia Kenney, Charlotte Observer, 17 Mar. 2026

Try Pho Ha Noi (969 Story Road) for Shaking Beef, bowls of pho, vermicelli bowls (that’s where the nuoc cham, aka fish sauce, comes in), and Duc Huong (1020 Story Road) for banh mi. —Linda Zavoral, Mercury News, 16 Mar. 2026

Dive into a round of project cooking to make the charcuterie, like gio lua (silky chicken sausage), that star in banh mi, those irresistible spiky Vietnamese sandwiches. —Scott Hocker, TheWeek, 5 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Vietnamese bánh mì, literally, "bread, baguette," from bánh "cake, pastry" + mì "wheat"

First Known Use

1985, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for banh mi

• agree
• allee
• banshee
• beastly
• bibi
• bowsprit
• carefree
• cerci
• chablis
• cowpea
• crappie
• crappy