Borek
Noun
- An envelope of thin pastry filled with cheese, spinach, or ground meat and baked or fried.
Example Sentences
“On our walk we picked up boreks from a street vendor.”
“I had a borek for lunch and don’t feel hungry for dinner yet.”
“Make sure to try a borek before you leave town — it’s a specialty.”
Word Origin
Turkish, early 19th century
Why this word?
This Mediterranean pastry pocket is not to be missed — it can be prepared baked or fried, and the flaky pastry is filled with cheese, spinach, spices, and sometimes ground meat. While the English version of the word is “borek,” it comes from a few versions in other languages. In Ottoman Turkish it’s “būrek,” in modern Turkish it’s “börek,” in modern Greek it’s “μπουρέκι,” in Albanian it’s “byrek,” in Serbian and Croatian it’s “burek,” in Ladino it’s “boreka,” and in Arabic it’s “burīk.”