strudel
strudel
UK[ˈʃtruːdl̩]US[ˈstruːdl̩]
n
A type of pastry, especially one from Austria, made of thin layers of dough rolled up with a fruit or other sweet filling inside.
Etymology
The word 'strudel' is a direct loan from German, where 'Strudel' literally means "whirlpool" or "eddy." This name is a vivid metaphor, describing the pastry's characteristic appearance of thin dough rolled or swirled around its filling, much like a swirling vortex of water. The German term itself can be traced back to the Old High German 'stredan', meaning "to bubble, boil, whirl," a concept related to turbulent, rotating motion. Thus, the journey of the word captures the visual logic of the pastry's form, evolving from a term for a churning whirlpool to the name of a distinctive spiral-shaped dessert.
Analysis
The word is a simplex loanword from German. It is not productively segmented in English.
Examples
For dessert, she served a warm apple strudel with vanilla ice cream.
The bakery is famous for its traditional Viennese apricot strudel.
Making the dough thin enough for a proper strudel requires considerable skill.