天てんぷら

て

ん

ぷ

ら

Common wordJLPTN5Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

tempura; deep-fried battered seafood/vegetables

A Japanese dish of lightly battered and deep-fried seafood or vegetables.

from Portuguese tempero

〈物もの〉を天てんぷらにするto make something (seafood/vegetables) into tempura
海老えびを天てんぷらにして食たべた。
I made the shrimp into tempura and ate it.
天てんぷらを揚あげるto deep-fry tempura
母ははが野や菜さいの天てんぷらを揚あげてくれた。
My mother deep-fried some vegetable tempura for me.
天てんぷらの衣ころもをつけるto coat something in tempura batter
白しろ身み魚ざかなに天てんぷらの衣ころもをつけて揚あげる。
Coat the white fish in tempura batter and fry it.

フライ
フライ refers to Western-style breadcrumb-coated deep-fried food, while 天ぷら is Japanese-style food dipped in a light flour batter and deep-fried.

フライ
天ぷら uses a light, airy batter, while フライ is coated in a heavier breadcrumb crust before frying.
唐から揚あげ
天ぷら is dipped in a wet batter before frying, whereas 唐揚げ is marinated and dusted with flour or starch, without a batter.
揚あげ物もの
天ぷら is a specific style of deep-fried food coated in a light batter, while 揚げ物 is the general category covering all deep-fried dishes.
テンペラ
テンペラ (the painting medium) and 天ぷら (deep-fried food) sound almost identical in Japanese but are completely unrelated in meaning.

天てんぷらUsage68%
ateji (phonetic kanji usage)
Standard modern spelling; ateji kanji with kana suffix.
てんぷらUsage17%
Kana spelling is common in everyday writing.
天てん麩ぷ羅らUsage7%
ateji (phonetic kanji usage)
Full ateji spelling, rarely used today.
テンプラUsage4%
search-only kana form
天てん婦ぷ羅らUsage2%
ateji (phonetic kanji usage)
Alternate ateji spelling, very uncommon.
天てんプラUsage2%
search-only kanji form
Search-only form; not a standard spelling.

Borrowed from Portuguese 'tempero' (seasoning), via a historical Catholic mission route. The kanji are ateji assigned for their sounds.