shiitake

[shee-ee-tah-key]

noun, plural shi·i·ta·ke.

a large, meaty, black or dark brown mushroom, Lentinus edodes, native to eastern Asia and frequently used in Japanese and Chinese cookery.

Origin of shiitake

1875–80; < Japanese, equivalent to shii oak (earlier siwi < sifi < *sipi) + take mushroom (perhaps ta field + ke(y) hair)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for shiitake

Contemporary Examples of shiitake

Sauté the shiitake mushrooms in the soy sauce, sesame oil, and minced garlic.
A Korean New Year's Day Menu
Kelly Choi
February 10, 2011

Historical Examples of shiitake

The Japanese are very successful in cultivating a mushroom which they call "Shiitake" or "Lepiota shiitake."
Student's Hand-book of Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous
Thomas Taylor
There are three varieties of "Shiitake," the spring, summer, and autumn crops differing somewhat in quality.
Student's Hand-book of Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous
Thomas Taylor

British Dictionary definitions for shiitake

shiitake

shitake

noun plural -take

a kind of mushroom widely used in Oriental cookery

Word Origin for shiitake

C20: from Japanese shii tree + take mushroom

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for shiitake

1877, from Japanese, from shii, name of several types of evergreen trees, + take "mushroom."