kudzu
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Japanese 葛 (kuzu). The spelling kudzu (instead of kuzu) is due to historical transliteration methods of Japanese into English (compare adzuki).
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]kudzu (usually uncountable, plural kudzus)
- An Asian vine (several species in the genus Pueraria, but mostly Pueraria montans var. lobata, syn. Pueraria lobata in the US), grown as a root starch, and which is a notorious invasive weed in the United States.
- Synonyms: Japanese arrowroot, mile-a-minute
- 2007 November 1, Jeff Goodell, “James Lovelock, the Prophet”, in Rolling Stone[1]:
- By 2020, droughts and other extreme weather will be commonplace. By 2040, the Sahara will be moving into Europe, and Berlin will be as hot as Baghdad. Atlanta will end up a kudzu jungle.
- 2011 August 31, Ashley Dawson, “Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor: An Interview with Rob Nixon”, in Social Text[2]:
- Walled off communities, private jets, private security details are spreading like kudzu around the world.
- 2013 September 10, Michiko Kakutani, “A Calamity Tailor-Made for Internet Conspiracy Theories”, in New York Times[3]:
- All the author’s familiar trademarks are here: […] shaggy-dog plotlines sprouting everywhere, like kudzu; […]
- (cooking, medicine) A starch extracted from the root that is used in traditional East Asian medicine and cuisine.
- Synonym: kudzu powder
Usage notes
[edit]- The kudzu invasive in the US apparently includes natural hybrids of four species of Pueraria: Pueraria montana, Pueraria edulis, Pueraria phaseoloides, and Pueraria tuberosa
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]an Asian vine
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Further reading
[edit]kudzu on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
kudzu powder on Wikipedia.Wikipedia