kimchi
nounEtymology Borrowed from Korean 김치 (gimchi), ultimately composed within Korea of Chinese-derived morphemes 沉 (MC drim, “submerged, soaked”) and 菜 (MC tshojH, “vegetable”), i.e. "fermented vegetable". Doublet of kimuchi.
1
Usually A Korean dish made of vegetables, such as cabbage or radishes, that are salted, seasoned, and stored in sealed containers to undergo lactic acid fermentation.
- "Yeah." He gestured to the kimchi. "Well, get it in ya, then." "It's better hot." she said.2019 January 26, Jo Storm, Snowhook, Dundurn, →ISBN:
- Despite the stew’s debt to kimchi, you know it has come into its own when it’s served with kimchi as a side dish.2023 June 29, Violet Kim, “Korean food: 39 dishes we can’t live without”, in CNN:
2
Derogatory, Ethnic, Slang, Slur, Usually A Korean person.
- How did I know the kimchis were trying to smuggle the crate out of Japan?1994, Richard Marcinko, Rogue Warrior II: Red Cell, Pocket Books, page 238:
- In the United States, Germans are sometimes called "krauts" ... Koreans "kimchis," and poor white Southerners "crackers"...2007, Pamela Goyan Kittler, Kathryn Sucher, Food and Culture, Cengage Learning, page 5:
1 more example
- ... he doesn't know the difference between Ping-Pongs and Kimchis.2011, Gerald M. Weinberg, Freshman Murders, Weinberg & Weinberg:
- Derived terms
- kimchi-jjigae, kimslaw