[16] The Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America[17] defines spaghetti and vermicelli by diameter: In 14th-century Italy, long pasta shapes had varying local names.

Cadriyad is also a common dessert in certain parts of Ethiopia, particularly in the Arab-influenced Harar-ghe region, where it is known as attriya and is served cold, often with a thin layer of custard on top.

The fideo is a type of noodle, produced in Europe since medieval times, best known as fideus or fidelis, which spread to Mexican and Latin American cuisine, and is often referred to by speakers of English as "vermicelli".

Vermicelli is known by various local names such as: sewiyun in Sindhi; semya (సేమ్యా or సేమియా) in Telugu; sémiya when made with wheat, and sevai when made with rice in Tamil; semiya in Malayalam; shavige in Kannada; sewoi in Assamese; shemai in Bengali; seviyan in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi; shevaya in Marathi; simei in Odia; sev in Gujarati; and semige in Tulu.

The noodles are used in a number of dishes, including a variation of kheer, called sevaya or seviyan, a sweet dessert similar to rice pudding.

In English, the Italian loanword vermicelli is used to indicate different sorts of long pasta shapes from different parts of the world, but mostly from South or East Asia.

A second type of vermicelli is made from rice that has been fermented (Chinese: 米線; pinyin: mǐxiàn; Thai: ขนมจีน, romanized: khanom chin; Vietnamese: bún).

Thirdly, vermicelli sometimes indicates cellophane noodles made from mung bean or sweet potato flour (Chinese: 粉絲; pinyin: fěnsī; Thai: วุ้นเส้น, romanized: wun sen).