Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various mixtures of spices that are used in South Asian cuisine.

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

  • noun Any of many blends of spices used in Indian cuisine, most often containing cardamom, coriander, mace together with pepper, nutmeg, fennel seeds, jeera etc.

Etymologies

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

[Hindi and Urdu maṣāliḥ, masālā, ingredients, mixture of spices, from Persian masāleḥ, from Arabic maṣāliḥ, pl. of maṣlaha, benefit, from ṣalaḥa, to be good; see ṣlḥ in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Hindustani मसाला / مسالا (masālā) "spice(s)", from Persian مصالح (maṣālih) "affairs, materials, spices", plural of مصلحت (maṣlahat) "affair, policy, best thing to do", both from Arabic, derived from صلح (ṣálaḥa) "be fit, competent, usable".

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Examples

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  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Tikka_Masala

    December 2, 2006

  • I posted it thinking of garam masala, and of masala chai. Although I might mention that I make a pretty mean Chicken Tikka.

    December 2, 2006