kimchi

noun

kim·​chi ˈkim-chē 

variants or less commonly kimchee

: a spicy, pungent vegetable dish that consists of one or more pickled and fermented vegetables and especially napa cabbage and radishes with various seasonings (such as garlic, red chili pepper, ginger, scallions, and anchovy paste) and that is the national dish of South Korea

To Koreans, life without "kimchi"—that spicy, fermented pickled vegetable mixture, which accompanies every Korean meal—is unthinkable.

—K. Connie Kang

Korean buckwheat noodles have more of a kick, often delivered with a little spicy kimchi.

—David Tanis

Examples of kimchi in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This decadent creation features lobster tails, generously filled with a tantalizing mixture of four types of seafood — lobster, crab, scallops and shrimp — blended with a rich kimchi sauce. —Rod Stafford Hagwood, Sun Sentinel, 3 Dec. 2024

For the perfect meal, start out with a mix of raw and unique grilled oysters like passion fruit and Jamon Iberico or the chile and house-made kimchi oysters. —Keyla Vasconcellos, Forbes, 29 Nov. 2024

The key is to saute the kimchi to concentrate its pungency — the more fermented the kimchi, the better. —Iris Kim, NBC News, 23 Nov. 2024

That salad inspired me to think of napa cabbage not merely as something to make kimchi, a slaw or a stir-fry with, but as a worthy salad green. —Julia Turshen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Korean kimch'i

First Known Use

1888, in the meaning defined above