ponzu

noun

pon·​zu ˈpän-(ˌ)zü 

: a tangy sauce made with citrus juice, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce and used especially on seafood

Did you know?

The word ponzu is relatively new to English; our earliest English-language evidence of the word - which we borrowed from Japanese - is from 1972. But the word's history isn't as simple as that fact suggests. The Japanese word, which literally means "juice squeezed from sour oranges" is itself from the Dutch word pons. And "pons" comes from (and shares the meaning of) the English word punch as it's used to refer to the beverage concoction that's often served at parties, weddings, and wakes.

Examples of ponzu in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Slivers of olive flounder are dusted with nutty dry miso and fanned out onto an eye-widening sauce made from yuzu and ponzu. —Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2025

These are dunked in grapefruit ponzu or spicy kimchi dressing or simply squeezed with lemon. —John Metcalfe, The Mercury News, 14 Feb. 2025

How to Make Garten's and Kotb's Mustard-Roasted Fish Here's a rundown of how to make Garten's quick and easy spin on Kotb's ponzu fish recipe. —Claire Hoppe Norgaard, Better Homes & Gardens, 4 Feb. 2025

Specials include Oysters & Caviar – four local oysters, crème fraiche, passion fruit emulsion, paddlefish caviar and chive oil for $35, Roasted Oysters with charcoal butter, parsnip aioli and ponzu for $23 and Lobster Risotto with Brussels sprouts, red curry and tarragon butter for $65. —Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 11 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Japanese ponsu, ponzu juice squeezed from sour oranges, from Dutch pons, literally, punch, from English punch entry 4

First Known Use

1966, in the meaning defined above

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