What does dabba mean?
In Indian English, a dabba is a metal container — most often aluminium or stainless steel — used to hold food. Its best-known role is as a lunchbox: workers and students across India carry their midday meal in a dabba, and in Mumbai an elaborate network of couriers known as dabbawalas transports tens of thousands of them daily between homes and offices. The word also covers the round, lidded canisters found in Indian kitchens, which keep spices, lentils, tea leaves, and other staples fresh. Borrowed into English from Hindi and related languages of northern and western India, 'dabba' is a warm, domestic word that evokes home cooking and daily routine. Though regional in origin, it has travelled widely through diaspora communities and food writing, making it a useful term for anyone describing Indian culinary culture accurately.
nounA dabba is a cylindrical metal container, typically made of aluminium or stainless steel, used in India to carry cooked food or store kitchen staples such as spices and grains.
- A metal lunchbox used to carry a meal to work or school.
- An airtight metal canister used in Indian kitchens to store spices, pulses, tea, or other dry goods.
"She packed the chapatis into the dabba before her husband left for the office."
"Every morning the dabbawala collected the steaming dabba from her doorstep and cycled it across Mumbai."
"The kitchen shelf was lined with labelled dabbas holding turmeric, cumin, and cardamom."
The plural follows standard English formation; the original Indic plural is not used in English contexts.
"The courier stacked twenty dabbas onto the bicycle rack."
Mumbai's dabbawalas deliver over 200,000 home-cooked lunches a day using dabbas — with a delivery accuracy so legendary it has been studied by business schools worldwide.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dabba
The word 'dabba' entered Indian English from Hindi and Marathi, where it denotes a box, tin, or small receptacle. It became established during the period of British colonial administration in India, when English speakers adopted local words for everyday objects they encountered. The most famous expression of the word's culture is the Mumbai dabbawala system, a lunch-delivery network dating back to the late nineteenth century, which helped carry 'dabba' into international awareness.
Related word forms
How dabba is actually used
The word is firmly rooted in Indian English and everyday South Asian life; it is informal-to-neutral in register. Outside South Asia it appears mainly in writing about Indian food culture or Mumbai's famous dabbawala lunch-delivery network. Plurals are usually anglicised as 'dabbas'.
Easily confused with dabba
Tiffin refers to the midday meal itself (or a tiered lunch carrier in some usage), whereas a dabba is specifically the metal container that holds the food.