Glossary
The words you'll meet in knafeh recipes and history, in Arabic and English, with alternative spellings.
Every definition below cites the dictionary, paper or registration it comes from. Terms appear in English alphabetical order, with the original Arabic or Turkish alongside.
- Akkawi cheese · جبنة عكاوي
- A white brined cheese that originated in the city of Acre (Akka); widely made in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus. (akawi, ackawi)Source: Kamleh et al., Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture (2015)
- Joz · جوز
- Walnut; a Persian word taken into Arabic.Source: Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, jowz
- Kanafani · كنفاني
- A person who makes kunafa.Source: al-Zabīdī, Tāj al-ʿArūs, root k-n-f
- Kataifi · tel kadayıf
- Dough poured in fine threads through special moulds and dried on a hot metal plate; the shredded pastry used for knafeh. (kunafa dough, shredded pastry)Source: Türk Dil Kurumu, Güncel Türkçe Sözlük, tel kadayıf
- Khishneh · خشنة
- "Coarse": one of the two kinds of knafeh named in Nablus.Source: Al Jazeera Net, الكنافة النابلسية.. أصل الحكاية (2018)
- Knafeh · كنافة (kunāfa)
- A pastry "resembling vermicelli", made from fine flour and water, and the sweet made from it. (kunafa, kanafeh, künefe, konafa)Source: Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon
- Künefe · künefe
- The Turkish name for knafeh; "a kind of tel kadayıf with cheese, eaten hot".Source: Türk Dil Kurumu, Güncel Türkçe Sözlük, künefe
- Künefe cheese · künefelik peynir
- The fresh, unsalted cheese required for Antakya künefe, made in named districts of Hatay.Source: TÜRKPATENT, Antakya Künefesi registration no. 101
- Mahlab · محلب / mahlep
- The small fruit of the mahaleb cherry tree, used as a spice. (mahleb)Source: Türk Dil Kurumu, Güncel Türkçe Sözlük, mahlep
- Na'meh · ناعمة
- "Fine": the other kind of Nablus knafeh, and the more common one. (na'ameh)Source: Al Jazeera Net, الكنافة النابلسية.. أصل الحكاية (2018)
- Nabulsi cheese · جبنة نابلسية
- A white brined cheese, typically from sheep's milk, kept in strong brine and soaked to remove salt before eating.Source: Abu-Alruz, Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science Journal (2023)
- Osmalieh · عثملية
- Two layers of fried pastry with qishta cream between them, eaten across the Levant. (othmaliye)Source: Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, العثملية تغزو المائدة العربية (2016)
- Qatayif · قطائف (qaṭāʾif)
- A sweet closely linked to kunafa; the Turkish word kadayıf comes from it. (kadayıf)Source: Türk Dil Kurumu, Güncel Türkçe Sözlük, kadayıf
- Qishta · قشطة
- Arabic clotted cream, used instead of cheese in some knafeh. (ashta, qashtah)Source: Anissa Helou, my favourite breakfast: ka'ket k'nafeh
- Samneh · سمنة
- Ghee, clarified butter; used as an alternative to unsalted butter in knafeh. (ghee, samn)Source: Anissa Helou, my favourite breakfast: ka'ket k'nafeh
- Syrup · قطر / şerbet
- Sugar boiled with water, poured over the hot knafeh. The Turkish şerbet is boiled sugar-water for baklava and similar pastries. (qatr, şerbet)Source: Türk Dil Kurumu, Güncel Türkçe Sözlük, şerbet