a small ball of dough (= a mixture of flour, fat and water) that is cooked and served with meat dishes or in soup 小面团；汤团；饺子 chicken with herb dumplings 香草鸡肉饺子
a small ball of pastry, often with fruit in it, eaten as a dessert 水果布丁 apple dumplings 苹果布丁
Word Originearly 17th cent.: apparently from the rare adjective dump ‘of the consistency of dough’, although dumpling is recorded much earlier.