kimchi

American  

[kim-chee] / ˈkɪm tʃi /

Or kimchee

noun

1. Korean Cooking. a spicy pickled or fermented mixture containing cabbage, onions, and sometimes fish, variously seasoned, as with garlic, horseradish, red peppers, and ginger.

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Etymology

Origin of kimchi

First recorded in 1895–1900; from Korean kimch'i, hypercorrection of cimch'i, earlier timchoy, from Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese chén “steeped” + cày “vegetables”

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Explanation

Kimchi is a traditional fermented Korean side dish usually made of cabbage. Just about any meal you eat in Korea, or at a Korean restaurant, will be served with kimchi. There are hundreds of ways to make kimchi, using different vegetables and varying spice levels, but it is always slightly crunchy, with sweet, sour, spicy, and umami flavors. Fermentation is the most important element of kimchi, which is traditionally fermented in a clay vessel called an onggi. The Korean kimchi (or kimchee) derives from roots meaning "soaked vegetable."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kimchi

The meals of hot dogs and tinned fruit were revelatory to children used to the flavorings of ginger and kimchi: “This was straight-up American food, wholesome, facile, and inert, and we adored it.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

The restaurant makes eight varieties of potstickers in-house, including kimchi pork, curry chicken, butternut squash and shrimp, and vegan options like tofu with mushroom and kale.

From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026

Scientists in South Korea say a probiotic bacterium found in kimchi may help the body get rid of nanoplastics by binding to the particles inside the intestine and helping remove them through waste.

From Science Daily ● May 18, 2026

One of Rise’s sandwiches includes egg, cheese, bulgogi, kimchi jjigae and cream cheese flavored with ssamjang, a dipping sauce.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026

I’m drowsy from sitting in the sun, after eating a plateful of leftover kimchi fried rice from Soojin’s fridge for a snack after school.

From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan

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