Poha in English, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and more languages

One line per language: Hindi poha, Marathi pohe, Gujarati paunva, Punjabi chirwre, Bengali chide, Odia chudaa, Assamese chira, Kannada avalakki, Telugu atukulu, Tamil aval and Malayalam aval. In English, IFCT 2017 prints the name 'Rice, flakes', the entry behind every other name on this page. The table below carries the same names in the order used across this site's grain pages; Urdu and Sanskrit have no recorded name for the flakes, so they show a dash.

Source: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN) local-names list. — means no name recorded in the source.

Poha in English is rice flakes, the name IFCT 2017 prints for the food; flattened rice and beaten rice are other English names for the same flakes. The botanical name is Oryza sativa — plain rice, the same name the tables give the rice grain itself, because poha is rice that has been flattened.

So flattened rice in English is poha, not a different food. Flattened rice meaning in Hindi is poha as well: the English name describes the form of the grain, the Hindi name is simply its name, and both point at the same flakes. The question 'difference between poha and flattened rice' has no answer, because there is none; the next two sections show where each name comes from.

North India: poha in Hindi, chirwre in Punjabi

In Hindi the flakes are poha. Punjabi has its own word, chirwre, recorded in the same IFCT 2017 list, so a Hindi speaker and a Punjabi speaker use different words for the same flakes.

West India: pohe in Marathi, paunva in Gujarati

The Marathi name is pohe. Poha in Gujarati is paunva.

East India: chide, chudaa, chira

Bengali has chide. Odia records chudaa, and Assamese chira, all three from the same IFCT 2017 list.

South India: avalakki in Kannada, atukulu in Telugu, aval in Tamil and Malayalam

Kannada calls the flakes avalakki, Telugu atukulu, and Tamil and Malayalam share the same word, aval. These four names describe one food.

Three breakfast names get mixed up in shops and searches: poha, rice and oats. Poha and rice are one grain in two forms: both carry the botanical name Oryza sativa, rice as the grain and poha as flattened flakes. The poha vs rice page compares the two gram for gram. Oats is a different cereal altogether, and how it stands against the flakes is on the poha vs oats page. Flattened rice and poha, meanwhile, are one food under two names, and the poha hub page sets out what the flakes are and how to cook them.

Poha is made from rice, and every name in the table above points to that one food, listed in IFCT 2017 as 'Rice, flakes'. COWBERRY's poha is made from rice grown organically in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, with no artificial whitening agents. How thick, thin and red flakes differ, and which dish takes which, is on the types of poha guide; the poha recipes roundup collects what the flakes become in the pan.

What is poha called in English?

Rice flakes. IFCT 2017's English name for poha is 'Rice, flakes', and older English recipes call the same thing flattened rice or beaten rice. All three names describe one food, so a shop shelf may use any of them.

What is flattened rice called in Hindi?

Poha. Flattened rice meaning in Hindi is simply poha, the word the flakes are known by across north Indian shops and menus. Punjabi adds its own word, chirwre, for the same flakes.

What is flattened rice in Tamil?

Aval, the same word Malayalam uses. IFCT 2017 records aval for both Tamil and Malayalam, just as it records avalakki for Kannada and atukulu for Telugu; all four are one food.

Difference between poha and flattened rice?

None. Poha is the Hindi name and flattened rice the English name for one food; the flakes are simply rice that has been flattened. Rice flakes and beaten rice are two further names for the same food.

What is poha?

Poha is rice in flake form, and in English the flakes are called rice flakes; in Tamil they are aval. A quick rinse softens them for a breakfast plate such as kanda poha.