dosa
UK[ˈdəʊsə]US[ˈdoʊsə]
n
a thin, crispy pancake made from a fermented batter of rice and black gram, originating from south indian cuisine.
Etymology
the word 'dosa' entered english as a direct borrowing from south indian languages, specifically from tamil 'tōcai' or kannada 'dōse'. these terms refer to the specific fermented crepe itself. the word's journey into english vocabulary is relatively recent, facilitated by the global spread of indian cuisine. it is a clear example of a culinary loanword where the name of the dish is adopted wholesale, without translation or morphological analysis, to fill a lexical gap in the borrowing language.
Analysis
this is a loanword from a dravidian language (tamil or kannada) into english. it does not contain separable classical morphemes within the english linguistic system.
Examples
we ordered a masala dosa filled with spiced potatoes for breakfast.
the key to a perfect crispy dosa is the fermentation of the batter.
this restaurant is famous for its wide variety of dosas.