Meaning & use
knafeh
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
A Middle Eastern dessert of thin pastry strands or semolina layered with soft cheese and soaked in sweet syrup.
Grammar: Usually uncountable: some knafeh; a piece of knafeh.
Patterns
- a piece of knafeh
- knafeh with something
We ordered warm knafeh after dinner at the Lebanese restaurant.
The bakery sells knafeh topped with crushed pistachios.
She learned to make knafeh from her grandmother.
Common combinations
- a piece of knafeh
- He ate a piece of knafeh with coffee.
- warm knafeh
- Warm knafeh is best when the cheese is still stretchy.
- cheese knafeh
- Cheese knafeh is popular during Ramadan.
- bake knafeh
- They bake knafeh in large round trays.
- knafeh with syrup
- The knafeh with syrup was very sweet.
Synonyms and how they differ
- kunafa
- Kunafa is another common English spelling of the same dessert, so the two are interchangeable.
- baklava
- Baklava is a related sweet that uses layered filo and nuts, whereas knafeh uses shredded pastry or semolina and cheese.
Word family
- kunafa noun
- a different common spelling
- kanafeh noun
- another spelling of the same dessert
Commonly confused: knafeh or baklava?
knafeh vs baklava
Baklava is made with layers of thin pastry and chopped nuts, while knafeh has cheese and shredded or semolina dough.
Practice
Which dessert is made with shredded pastry, soft cheese and sweet syrup?
Choose one answer.
Knafeh is the cheese and shredded-pastry dessert. Baklava uses nuts and layered filo, and the others come from other cuisines.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “knafeh”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.