Pupusas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A traditional Salvadoran dish consisting of a thick corn tortilla filled with ingredients such as cheese, beans, or meat
2. A specialty food from El Salvador made by stuffing a corn dough tortilla with various fillings like cheese or beans
3. A popular Central American meal featuring a corn tortilla filled with savory components such as cheese, beans, or meat

Etymology: "Pupusas" is the plural of "pupusa," a stuffed corn flatbread that is the national dish of El Salvador. The singular form came into Spanish from Pipil, the Nahuan language spoken by the indigenous peoples of the Salvadoran region, where the root "pupusawa" meant "swollen," a fitting description of the thick, puffed-up disc once it is filled and griddled. The word therefore names the dish by its shape rather than its contents. Spanish speakers took the Pipil term and applied it to the stuffed tortilla, and English borrowed the Spanish form, which is why the plural keeps the familiar "-s" ending. The ingredients such as cheese, beans, or meat vary from cook to cook, but the name stayed tied to the swelling that happens when the dough is pressed around its filling.