Pierogi are a dish of
Polish origin, consisting of boiled
dumplings of
unleavened dough stuffed with varying ingredients. They are usually semicircular, but are square in some cuisines.
In English, the word pierogi and its variants (perogi, perogy, pirohi, piroghi, pirogi, pirogen, pierogy, pirohy, pyrohy) are pronounced with a stress on the letter "o".
The origins of pierogi are difficult to trace. While dumplings as such are found throughout Eurasia, the specific name pierogi, with its Proto-Slavic root "pir" (festivity) and its various cognates in the West and East Slavic languages, shows the dish's common Slavic origins, predating the modern nation states and their standardized languages. The East Slavic Belarusians, Russians and Ukranians, the West Slavic Poles and Slovaks, and the Baltic Latvians and Lithuanians all consume this dish, although sometimes under a different name (e.g., kalduny in Belarus and Lithuania). In some East European languages, variants of this dish are known by names derived from the root of the word "to boil" (Russian ??????, varit', Ukrainian ??????, varyty). These include the Belarusian vareniki (?????i?i), Latvian vareniki, Russian vareniki (????´????), Ukrainian varenyky (????´????) (literally "boiled things", from the adjective form varenyy).
There is a definite similarity to Italian ravioli and tortellini or Jewish kreplach. In Turkey, Transcaucasus, and Central Asia round pockets of dough with a meat filling are called manti, khinkali, or chuchvara. In East Asia, similar foods are served, such as Chinese wonton and jiaozi, Japanese gyoza, Mongolian buuz, Nepalese/Tibetan momo, Afghani mantu, and Korean mandu.
