Zaatar goes global

It usually lives on a warm flatbread, not between hard covers. Yet this year, zaatar made an unexpected move, from the breakfast table to the dictionary. Long embedded in Levantine daily life, the word has officially entered the 2026 editions of Le Petit Larousse and Le Petit Robert, earning its place among the French language’s newest recognized terms.

For years, zaatar traveled quietly. It followed migration routes, appeared in bakeries and home kitchens, slipped into menus and food writing. By the time it reached French dictionaries, it was already familiar to millions. The lexicographers were not introducing it; they were catching up to reality.

Rooted in Arabic (za‘tar), the term originally names wild thyme, and by extension other aromatic plants from the same family. Over time, the word took on a second, more widely recognized meaning: the iconic Levantine spice blend, most often combining thyme, sumac, sesame seeds, and salt.

That dual identity is central to its power. Zaatar is both plant and preparation, nature and culture. It is not a fixed recipe but a living one. In Lebanon, sumac’s tang is essential. Elsewhere, marjoram, savory, or fennel may appear. Each version carries local taste, family habits, and memory. The word does not describe a product; it captures a practice.

Why Zaatar and why now?

French dictionaries regularly absorb foreign words, particularly when they describe realities that no longer require translation. Like sushi, tapas, or hummus before it, zaatar fills a lexical gap. There is no precise French equivalent that captures both the plant and the preparation, the taste and the cultural weight.

Its growing presence in French-language media, cookbooks, restaurant menus, and everyday speech made its inclusion inevitable. By 2026, zaatar had crossed the threshold from “exotic reference” to familiar term, understood without explanation by a wide audience.

But how does a word enter the dictionary?

Contrary to popular belief, new words are not added because they are trendy or popular on social media. The process is slow, methodical, and highly selective.

At Le Petit Larousse and Le Petit Robert, editorial teams, made up of lexicographers, linguists, and language specialists, monitor how words are used over time. They track newspapers, books, academic texts, advertising, television, and increasingly, digital media. A word must demonstrate durability, frequency, and stability of meaning.

In practical terms, this means:

- The word must be used regularly over several years

- It must appear across multiple sources, not just one niche

- Its meaning must be clear and consistent

- It must be understood by a broad audience, not limited to a closed community

More than a word

The inclusion of zaatar in French dictionaries is not a nod to culinary fashion, but a record of how language follows life. It reflects decades of movement, exchange, and everyday use, how a word carried by migration and food culture became familiar enough to stand on its own, without translation or explanation.

For many in Lebanon and across the Levant, zaatar is inseparable from daily memory: school mornings with olive oil and bread, family harvests, neighborhood bakeries, and long-held beliefs about focus and resilience. Its appearance in a dictionary does not redefine it, but it places that lived experience on a wider linguistic map.