A noodle is food made from unleavened dough that is cooked in a boiling liquid. Depending upon the type, noodles may be dried or refrigerated before cooking. The word noodle derives from the German Nudel (noodle) and may be related to the Latin word nodus (knot). In English, noodle is a generic term for unleavened dough made from many different types of ingredients. Noodles exist in an abundance of shapes.

Types of noodles by primary ingredient

Millet

• Oldest known prehistoric noodles, from 2000 BC (see Chinese noodles).
• Indian ragi noodles, made from finger millet flour.

Wheat

• Chūka men (中華麺): Japanese for "Chinese noodles", used for ramen, chanpon and yakisoba
• Lamian (拉麵): hand pulled Kyrgyz and Chinese noodles
• Mee pok (麪薄): flat, green Chinese noodles, popular in Southeast Asia
• Pasta: approximately 350 variants of Italian noodles
• Sōmen (そうめん): very thin Japanese wheat noodles
• Spätzle: a Swabian type of noodle made of wheat and eggs
• Udon (うどん): thick Japanese wheat noodles

Rice

• Flat or Thick rice noodles, also known as héfěn or ho fun (河粉), kway teow or sen yai (เส้นใหญ่)
• Rice vermicelli: thin rice noodles, also known as mǐfěn (米粉) or bee hoon or sen mee (เส้นหมี่)

Mung bean

• Cellophane noodles, also known as glass noodles, or bean vermicelli. fěnsī (粉絲) in Chinese, harusame(春雨) in Japanese, soun or suun in Indonesian, wun sen (วุ้นเส้น) in Thai.

Potato or canna starch

• Cellophane noodles can also be made from potato starch or canna starch or various starches of the same genre.
• Gnocchi, small Italian dumplings.

Buckwheat

• Makguksu (막국수), local specialty of Gangwon Province in South Korea
• Naengmyeon (냉면): Korean noodles made of buckwheat and sweet potato starch. Slightly more chewy than soba.
• Soba (蕎麦): Japanese buckwheat noodles

Acorn

• Acorn noodles, also known as dotori gooksoo (도토리국수) in Korean, are made of acorn meal, wheat flour, wheat germ, and salt.

Types of noodle dishes

• Basic noodles: These are cooked in water or broth, then drained. Other foods can be added (for example a pasta sauce) or the noodles are added to other foods (see fried noodles or lasagna) or the noodles can be served plain with a dipping sauce or oil to be added at the table. In general, noodles are soft and absorb flavors.