The "end piece" of a loaf of bread in Polish

My mother and her mother are Polish, so I grew up with a bunch of Polish words and sayings thrown into my life. I've accepted them all without question until recently. My family has always called the "end piece" of a loaf of bread something along the lines of "Kulumpke" or "kalumpka." I'm not even sure how to spell it since I've only ever heard it spoken aloud. Is this a real word, or has my family been misleading me for my entire life? Is there a different term for the "end piece" of bread?

maybe KROMKA (?)
"end piece" of a loaf of bread would also be dupka or piętka

pieta or pietka not dupka.
kromka means a slice of bread, a toast.

dupka or piętka are both correct. Kromka is just a slice, not the end piece.

Actually, kromka can mean the end piece, but only in Poznanski dialect (spoken in Poznan and to some extent in the whole region of the former Prussian annexation). In other regions of Poland that particular piece of bread is called ''piętka'' or ''przylepka'' and ''kromka'' means a normal slice of bread.

''Pajda'' is also used to describe a slice of bread.

Dupka sounds close to Dupa which I maybe spelling wrong but my parents always referred to our rear ends as Dupas. Which could mean BUTT end of bread. Sound Plausible?

I don't know what's the point of digging out a 3-year topic, but answering to the original question, the end piece of a loaf of bread is, at least for me, przylepka.

Although this word may differ in different regions in different cities. I am from the area of Łódź.

The word "dupka" is also used, but sometimes you may want to avoid it, as it comes from "dupa" - "ass". Even though it makes sense.

Talking about regionalisms, the most known example is a kind of bun/bread roll, which is of the size and shape of a loaf of bread. But it doesn't contain rye flour, it's made of wheat flour only, that's why it's not bread, it's a bread roll.

It looks like this:



In my area it's called "angielka", but, actually, literally each city in Poland has its own word for this.

I've always found that interesting and a little odd here, that some people don't consider it bread if it doesn't have certain types of flour, especially as there are so many types.

In Poland chleb should be made entirely or primarily from rye flour. If made from just wheat flour it is called a bułka. French bread is bułka paryska (Paris loaf) and the thinner rod-type type is a bagietka. That is because rye grew better in northerly climes and was more affordable. Only the aristocracy could afford the daintier wheat bread rolls. (From a health standpoint white bread is more starchy and overuse contirbtues to diabetes.) Today things are reversed, and what is known as chleb (Baltonowski is typical) may contain only 10% - 20% flour and the rest wheat, because rye is now dearer.

All of them types of bread when push comes to shove. What would you call a large spelt loaf? Bread or roll? Rather popular here now.


Can't abide the stuff - so many nicer types.

BTW, I wonder why flat bread was never part of the cuisine here. I sometimes serve it and people really like it. Also easy to make and suits a traditional Polish kitchen better than oven-baked.

That's mad! Finding it hard to look at your picture showing what to me clearly looks like a loaf of bread, only to find it's termed as a roll!

So it's termed as a roll only if made from wheat flour. Shape or size appear not to be important then ;)


I very rarely use Google Translate but i was interested to know what it would come up with for this. It translates it as " fondling ", " heel " or " cajoler " lol

It translates " Crust ", which is the English term for the first and last slices of bread, the end pieces if you like, as skórka na chlebie, which makes more sense to me as a literal translation. Is this term not used in Polish then, and just regional equivalents instead?

Crust in English also applies to the outer bit of each slice of bread too, does przylepka also apply or does it specifically mean only the end pieces?

I use 'pietka'. The end bit in an unsliced loaf.

Piętka for me too - I don't know any other term for this in Poland.

I've heard both piętka and dupka. If I were around friends I'd probably say dupka and I'd say piętka in more polite company. I don't know if any native speakers would do that.

That's what we used to call it in my home, I've come across "dupka" as well in other homes.

Nice too see you back Looker.

"Przylepka" sounds generally like something sticky or being sticked. Compare it with "nalepka", which actually means "sticker".[/quote]
I understand it so that when you slice this end piece of the loaf, it fits to its place. And only there. "Normal" slices are all of more or less the same size.

About the flour types - actually, I am not sure, what's the English terminology. Isn't it actually so that all the bakery products are called "bread" (in Polish: pieczywo)? Then the Polish classification is just different.

In English the main category is "bread" (as equivalent of Polish "pieczywo"), and the main division seems to be between just bread (in loaves) and bread roll or bun (which is small and often circular, although not always).

In Polish the main category is "pieczywo", and it can be divided into two types: "chleb" and "bułka". Chleb is in loafs and it contains rye flour (wheat flour usually as well, but the proportion might be different, depending on the type of the "chleb"). Almost everything else is called "bułka". From the bread-like (loafy) things - although it goes more in the direction of cakes - you will find also "chała" (a kind of sweet bread shaped as a braid, it's of Jewish origin) and "ciasto drożdżowe" (yeast cake). From smaller things - "rogal" (croissanty-like thing, I would say a croissant is a subtype of "rogal")And, of course, a whole variety of sweet buns ("bułka słodka", "drożdżówka"). For sure I have forgotten about something.

Be careful with the usage of the word 'nalepka' as that also means 'foreskin'.

Nalepka doesn't mean anything such thing,Terri. Where did you get the idea of it meaning the sexual organ thing? Check out your dictionary before publishing your dross!

I actually got it from the mouth of a Polish person (man) I was having sex with at the time. Not from a dictionary.

In England the majority of bread is made from wheat flour, whereas in Poland rye flour is mainly used.


Yes, you're correct and it's the same in Poland with chleb and bułka, although the difference in categorizing it in Poland is based on whether they are made from rye or wheat flour. Bread and rolls in England are usually made from refined wheat flour (white bread ), or wholemeal flour, which is milled from whole wheat grains ( wholemeal/brown bread ). We have rye bread here too, but it's not as popular.

So if przylepka only refers to that end piece of loaf, what term is used for the outer layer of each slice which in England we also term as being the crust of the bread? In English there is only one word for the end pieces, and the outer layer of each slice, crust. Is skórka na chlebie never used then, and is just the literal translation by Google Translate?

In Poland the name for it is the 'skórka od chleba' or sometimes 'skórka chlebowa'

I would say 'przylepka' sounds rather like the second slice of bread which makes the double sliced sandwich.

OK, thanks for that Looker. I asked a couple of friends too, and they referred to it as skórka.

My father was first generation, where his parents emigrated from Dobczyce (pod Krakowa, literlally, "under Cracow," but meaning more of the periphery of Cracow). Dad was therefore bilingual Polish-English, with the language being the dialect of late 1800s/early 1900s Polish-speaking "Austria" (due to the third partition of Poland which ended at the end of WWI). I grew up hearing my Dad refer to the end slice of a loaf of bread as the kromka, which I always thought would be spelled krumka, or krómka. Dad would always use the word "heel" as the English translation for "kromka." Perhaps if there is a regional dialect thing going on with this word, with the locale around Cracow including this use of the word.

In standard Polish, kromka is a slice of bread, any slice. The end.slice is known as a piętka (little heel). There may be regional variants of course.


The generic term for different kinds of savoury breadstuffs in Poland is pieczywo (baked goods). But cakes and pastries are referred to as wypieki (sweet baked goods). Each language has its own rhythm and style.

it's not entirely correct - typical Polish bread is a mixed one with wheat and rye flour and typically you have more wheat flour in the mixture (the leaven used is typically purely rye though) - pure rye bread (or bread with the dominance of rye flour) is not common in Poland (I like it very much though) - it uses a lot more leaven and can be quite sour - I once had excellent rye bread with caraway in the Italian Tirol - they also have very good rye bread in Eastern Germany from what I observed

"under Cracow" is "pod Krakowem"
"from under Cracow" is "spod Krakowa", it seems you meant this form
"to under Cracow" is "pod Kraków" (the form "pod ...-a" would be correct in case of nouns for animate objects, let's say "pod kota" - "to under the cat")

There is no "pod Krakowa".

In English, "quite close by (to) Cracow" would probably be the best translation.
:-)

I would say:

pod Krakowem 'near/around Krakow'

spod Krakowa 'from around Krakow'

I know Dobczyce very well. It is about an hour's journey (south east) from Krakow. Very close by.

What I find very odd is that there's no Polish word for pastry. Everything is ciasto 'cake' in my understanding. Thus puff pastry is 'ciasto Francuskie' which literally means French cake. It's not very specific is it and French pastry is often used for savoury dishes so it seems odd to refer to it as cake. Also what would you call shortcrust pastry? Ciasto Angielskie? Steak and kidney pie made with English cake!