galangal

English

Galangal root

Alternative forms

• galingale, galanga

Etymology

From Middle English galyngale, from Old French galingal, from Arabic خَلَنْجَان (ḵalanjān), from Persian قولنجان (qulenjân, qulanjân), from Sanskrit कुलञ्जन (kulañjana), perhaps from Chinese 高良薑／高良姜 (gāoliángjiāng), from 高涼 / 高凉 (Gāoliáng) (a prefecture or county in China) + 薑 / 姜 (jiāng, “ginger”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡəˈlæŋɡəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

galangal (countable and uncountable, plural galangals)

1. Any of several east Asian plants of genera Alpinia and Kaempferia in the ginger family, used as a spice, but principally Alpinia galanga.
   • 2008, Carol Selva Rajah, David Thompson, Heavenly Fragrance‎^[1], page 144:

     The refreshing aroma of galangal acts in combination with and as a contrast to lemongrass in many recipes in this book.

   • 2023 July 15, Rachel Cooke, “No, Nigella – dinner parties are great. Deliveroo just doesn’t cut it”, in The Observer‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Another time, she dined in Hampstead, where she was fed a version of stargazy pie with a whole squid where the eel should have been. It was flavoured, for the full medieval effect, with galangal, which her hostess described as “kind of like frankincense”.

Hyponyms

• greater galangal (Alpinia galanga)
• lesser galangal (Alpinia officinarum)

Translations

any of several plants of the ginger family

• Arabic: خَوْلَنْجَان m (ḵawlanjān)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Burmese: ပတဲကော (my) (pa.tai:kau:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 高良薑 / 高良姜 (zh) (gāoliángjiāng)

• Czech: galgán m, galgant m
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: laos (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: galanga (fi)
• French: galangue (fr), galanga (fr) m
• German: Galgant (de) m
• Greek: χαυλιτζάνι (chavlitzáni)

  Ancient: γάλαγγα (gálanga), ζέρνα f (zérna), κύπειρον n (kúpeiron)

• Gujarati: કોલિંજન (koliñjan)
• Hindi: कुलंजन (hi) (kulañjan)
• Indonesian: laos (id), lengkuas (id)
• Italian: galanga (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: មើមខ្ញី (məəm kɲəy), រំដេង (km) (rumdeeng)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: ຂ່າ (lo) (khā)
• Malay: lengkuas (ms)
• Norman: han m
• Ottoman Turkish: قولغان (kolgan), خولنجان (havlincan)
• Persian: خسرو دارو (xesru dâru), خسرودارو (xesrudâru), خولنجان (fa) (xawlenjân, xulenjân), خاولنجان (xâwlanjân), قولنجان (qulanjân, qulenjân)
• Polish: gałgan (pl) m, galgant m
• Portuguese: galanga f
• Russian: галанговый ко́рень m (galangovyj kórenʹ), калга́н (ru) m (kalgán), галга́н m (galgán), галгант m (galgant), галанга f (galanga)
• Sanskrit: वनार्द्रका (sa) f (vanārdrakā), कुलञ्ज (sa) m (kulañja), गन्धमूल (sa) m (gandhamūla), तीक्ष्णमूल (sa) m (tīkṣṇamūla)
• Serbo-Croatian: galgant m, galgan m, galanga (sh) f
• Slovak: galgan m, galgant m
• Slovene: galgant m, galgan m, galanga f
• Spanish: galangal m
• Swedish: galanga (sv)
• Tagalog: langkawas
• Thai: ข่า (th) (kàa)
• Turkish: havlıcan (tr)
• Ukrainian: калга́н m (kalhán)
• Vietnamese: riềng (vi)

Further reading

• galangal on Wikipedia.Wikipedia