nigiri

[ ni-geer-ee ]

nounJapanese Cooking.
  1. cold boiled rice moistened with rice vinegar, shaped into bite-size pieces and topped with raw seafood.

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Origin of nigiri

1
First recorded in 1945–50; from Japanese nigiri-zushi, literally, “hand-pressed sushi, rolled sushi,” from nigiri “a gripping or grasping, handmade rice ball,” from nigiru “to grip, grasp, roll a lump of rice in the hand” + -zushi, combining form of sushi
  • Sometimes ni·gi·ri-zu·shi [ni-geer-ee-zoo-shee]. /nɪˈgɪər iˈzu ʃi/.

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British Dictionary definitions for nigiri

nigiri

/ (niːˈɡiːriː) /


noun
  1. (in Japanese cuisine) a small oval block of cold rice topped with wasabi and a thin slice of fish, prawn, etc, and sometimes held together by a thin band of seaweed

Origin of nigiri

1
from Japanese, literally: grasp, as the rice is shaped by hand

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