Satays

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of dish featuring marinated and grilled meat on sticks, typically presented with various dipping sauces
2. A culinary preparation that consists of skewered and barbecued meat, often enjoyed with a selection of sauces for enhancement
3. Small pieces of meat marinated and cooked on sticks, usually served with flavorful sauces

Etymology: "Satays" is the plural of "satay", the grilled meat skewers of Southeast Asian cuisine. The singular traces back through Malay "sate" to the Tamil word "catai" (சதை), meaning flesh or meat, which travelled east along the trade routes of the Indian Ocean. Javanese "saté" carried the same word onward, and the dish and its name spread through Malay-speaking and Indonesian kitchens before English took it up. Satay has a close relative in southern Africa and the Cape: "sosatie" is a doublet of it, descended from the same Tamil source by a separate route, and the Cape version is still a grilled meat skewer. "Shacha" is another doublet, so three words in different languages share one ancient root for meat.