Meaning & use
sufganiyah
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A round, fried doughnut filled with jelly, traditionally eaten during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
Grammar: Countable; the usual plural is sufganiyot, from Hebrew.
Patterns
- a sufganiyah
- eat sufganiyot
- fill a sufganiyah with jam
During Hanukkah, my grandmother makes sufganiyot filled with strawberry jam.
The bakery sells sufganiyot only in December, for the holiday season.
He bit into a warm sufganiyah and the jelly squirted out.
Word forms
| plural | sufganiyot |
|---|
Common combinations
- jelly-filled sufganiyah
- The children's favorite is the jelly-filled sufganiyah.
- make sufganiyot
- We make sufganiyot at home every Hanukkah.
- a plate of sufganiyot
- She brought a plate of sufganiyot to the party.
- traditional sufganiyah
- This recipe is for a traditional sufganiyah.
Synonyms and how they differ
- doughnut
- The general English word for any fried sweet cake; sufganiyah is specifically the jelly-filled Hanukkah kind.
- beignet
- A French-style fried dough, often without filling; sufganiyah always has filling and is tied to Hanukkah.
Commonly confused: sufganiyah or latke?
sufganiyah vs latke
A potato pancake also eaten at Hanukkah, but savory and not a doughnut.
Practice
Which sentence uses the plural correctly?
Choose one answer.
The plural of sufganiyah is sufganiyot, borrowed from Hebrew. The other options use invented or incorrect plural forms.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sufganiyah”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.