dal

1 of 2

noun

variants or dahl or dhal or less commonly dholl
: dried legumes (such as lentils, beans, or peas)
also : an Indian dish made of simmered and usually pureed and spiced legumes

dal

2 of 2

abbreviation

variants or less commonly daL
dekaliter

Examples of dal in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Noun
Dinner that night was a whole baked catfish with red cabbage and mustard sauce, a dal made with black-eyed peas, and lemon custard for dessert. Elizabeth Cantrell, Travel + Leisure, 7 Apr. 2026 Golden lentil dal with rice My golden lentil dal with rice. Trisha Pasricha, CNBC, 2 Apr. 2026 How could food from India’s 23 states — with multitudinous subregions and over a thousand dialects — ever be distilled into the generic naan, dal, butter chicken, dosa and sambar? Kalpana Mohan, Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2026 With a strong punch of ginger and the acid from the tomatoes, this hearty dal can be eaten with bread, rice, alongside other vegetables or a piece of meat. Anita Jaisinghani, Houston Chronicle, 3 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for dal

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Hindi & Urdu dāl

First Known Use

Noun

1673, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of dal was in 1673

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Dal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dal. Accessed 19 Apr. 2026.

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