Gastronomically, a dumpling is a little ball of poached dough accompanying a meat dish; etymologically, a dumpling is a little dump, just as a duckling is a little duck. The dump in dumpling is not related to the dump in down in the dumps (that dump probably comes from the Dutch damp, meaning haze); neither is the dump in dumpling related to the dump in garbage dump (that dump probably comes from the Danish dumpe, meaning to fall as in “He took a bad dump and scraped his knee”); neither is the dump in dumpling related to the dump in dumpoke (the name of this East Indian dish of steamed chicken comes from the Persian dam, meaning breath, and pukhte, meaning cooked, as if the meat were “breath-cooked” by the steam). The dump in dumpling does not really seem to be related to any other dump, deriving all by itself at the beginning of the seventeenth century from the German dump that means damp or moist.
A dumpling is a ball-shaped dough that can be boiled in stews or soups, steamed, or baked. It is often filled with various ingredients such as fruit. Typically, dumplings are round and measure about one to two inches in diameter.
A small, round mass of dough that is cooked by either steaming or boiling in a soup or stew is commonly known as a “dumpling.” These can be made in a simple, plain fashion or be enhanced with the inclusion of various herbs or cheese. The term “dumpling” can also refer to a fruit that has been encased in pastry and baked.