Pangasinan Synonyms for "Eat"

Pangasinan Synonyms for "Eat" are Too Plenty to Ignore

(New linguistic evidence shows Pangasinan is indeed a gustatory powerhouse.)

In the Pangasinan folk song, "No Siak so Mangaro," the closing stanza goes this way:

No kumon agi ta
Limon kan kakanen
Iyan ta kad nguroy dilak
Ya pantulin-tulinen
Ag ta ka gatgaten
Ag ta ka akmunen
Iyan ta kad nguroy dilak
Ya amamayuen

Translated, it means: "If only, dear, you were a lemon, I will put you at the tip of my tongue and roll you there again and again. I won't chew you, I won't swallow you, I will just place you at the tip of my tongue, there to be leisurely savored."

From this song alone lies the proof that Pangasinenses have a peculiar way with their mouth and their tongue, and particularly with their mouthfeel.

In fact, the number of synonyms for the word "eat" bears this out, as they are particularly numerous.

Pangasinan Synonyms for Eat

akan - eat

mangan - to eat

kanen - eat

tawayan - taste or sample

akmon, atmon - swallow

bikler - swallow forcefully

gatgat - chew

kutib - gnaw

ngalngal - to chew forcefully

kabkab - to bite in big chunks

kutlab - to make a big bite

kusab - same as kutlab?

ketket - bite

supsop - sip forcefully

ketleb - to bite in little pieces

sibasib - to sip and swallow forcefully?

nutnot - to suck at something for its fluid, as in a baby sucking at its mother's breast or its thumb

itamukal - to stuff in one's mouth whole

dildil/dildilan - to lick; cf. Ilocano dilpatan - to slide one's tongue on something very quickly

tangek - tungga? (ng tubig)

inom - drink

ikamot, isubo - to put in one's mouth

dilamot, silamot - to lick continuously with relish

ilop - higop; sip?

langgop - higop; sip

ngatingat - to munch on something or to eat constantly

supsop - to suck at something forcefully as in a snail

buag - eat (vulgar usage?)

mulmol - to keep inside one's mouth, as in a candy, leisurely sucking at it ever so slightly

ngatngat - gnaw

uus, us-os - refers to how to consume sugarcane sticks

ngasab - to bite a large piece

timtim, timtiman - to taste a tiny portion of food

anan - papain (Tagalog); to eat a dish or viand without the usual accompaniment of rice

baknot - to bite forcefully as to peel something? Example: "Baknot mo tay ubak odino baog."

ikamumos - to stuff in one's mouth like there's no tomorrow

ngasngas - used when you eat tulapo or sitsaron: with much sound

ngutngot - used when you eat fibrous food with some parts hard or inedible, as in to suck a mango seed or beef bone clean

manbuwaboy sungot ton lanang - matakaw

kutim-kutimën - to nibble

The foregoing is consistent with the particularly numerous terms for taste and smell in the Pangasinan language.

Based on these pieces of verbal evidence alone, Pangasinan is the gustatory center of Philippine cuisine.

Glossary contributors: Resty S. Odon, Melchor Orpilla, Efren Abulencia, Virginia Jasmin Pasalo, Arabela Ventenilla Arcinue, Joseph Anthony Quinto, Jona Marie Camagay-Calima, Isidora Francisco Axell, Jojie Yden Torrado