Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A cylindrical oven made of clay, heated over charcoal or wood, and used in South Asia and Central Asia for baking bread and roasting meat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A cylindrical clay oven used, in the cuisine of the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent, to make flat bread, or to cook meat.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a clay oven used in northern India and Pakistan

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Hindi and Urdu tandūr, from Persian tanūr, tundūr, oven, from Middle Persian tanūr, from Old Iranian tanūra-; akin to Aramaic tannūrā, Akkadian tinūru, and Sumerian duruna, all probably from a substrate source in southwest Asia .]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hindustani तन्दूर (tandūr) / تندور (tandūr), from Persian تنور (tanur), from Arabic تَنُّور (tannūr), ultimately from Akkadian  (tinūru), all meaning oven.

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Examples

  • Atta Chicken, which roughly translates to 'dough' chicken, dates back to a time in Punjab Province when every little house had a brick oven, known as a tandoor.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • A tandoori oven, known as a tandoor, is cylindrical and used for cooking meat dishes plus breads like nan and roti.

    Yahoo! News: Latest news headlines News Headlines | Top Stories 2010

  • A tandoori oven, known as a tandoor, is cylindrical and used for cooking meat dishes plus breads like nan and roti.

    Yahoo! News: Latest news headlines News Headlines | Top Stories 2010

  • A most popular Indian / Pakistan chicken dish which is cooked in a clay oven called a tandoor; this is extremely popular in the West and appears on the majority of the restaurant menus.

    Assyrian International News Agency 2009

  • A most popular Indian / Pakistan chicken dish which is cooked in a clay oven called a tandoor; this is extremely popular in the West and appears on the majority of the restaurant menus.

    Assyrian International News Agency 2009

  • According to the menu, a tandoor is a traditional pitcher-shaped clay oven used to cook meat and bread in ancient India.

    MailTribune.com Latest Headlines 2009

  • For the longest time I thought the "tandoori" in "tandoori chicken" referred to some kind of blend of spices used to marinate the meat, not realizing that there is actually a cylindrical clay oven called a tandoor for cooking all sorts of meats and veggies.

    rants and raves 2009

  • Originally from the Punjab region of India, this dish consists of chicken, usually skinless, that’s marinated in yogurt and spices and then cooked at high heat in a clay oven known as a tandoor.

    SARA MOULTON’S EVERYDAY FAMILY DINNERS SARA MOULTON 2010

  • Originally from the Punjab region of India, this dish consists of chicken, usually skinless, that’s marinated in yogurt and spices and then cooked at high heat in a clay oven known as a tandoor.

    SARA MOULTON’S EVERYDAY FAMILY DINNERS SARA MOULTON 2010

  • B industry to his new role as Chef de Cuisine of the Indian restaurant, many of which have been spent perfecting Bukhara cuisine - involving the delicate cooking of kebabs in a traditional 'tandoor' clay oven - in two of India's most renowned restaurants specialising in this culinary tradition.

    AMEinfo.com Latest News 2010

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