セイタン

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term was coined in Japanese by philosopher George Ohsawa in the early 1960s to refer to wheat gluten as used in Ohsawa's macrobiotic system of cooking and health. The exact derivation is uncertain. The first syllable may be from 生 (sei, “life”), 正 (sei, “proper, correct”), or 製 (sei, “made of”), while the second syllable is from 蛋 (tan, from 蛋白 (tanpaku, “protein”)). In Japanese, wheat gluten in general is usually referred to as 麩 (fu, “wheat bran, gluten”), while seitan in particular is written in katakana as セイタン.

• IPA^(key): [se̞ːtã̠ɴ]

セイタン (rōmaji seitan)

1. specially processed wheat gluten, used as a protein-rich food, sometimes as a replacement for meat

Due to the potential of confusion with homophones (see せいたん), the term グルテンミート (guruten mīto) is more commonly used.

• グルテンミート (guruten mīto): literally, “gluten meat”

• 麩 (ふ) (fu): wheat gluten in general