kudzu

• kuzu

From Japanese 葛(くず) (kuzu). The spelling kudzu (instead of kuzu) is due to the historical transliteration methods of Japanese into English (compare adzuki).

• enPR: ko͝odʹzo͞o, IPA^(key): /ˈkʊd.zuː/
• enPR: kŭdʹzo͞o, IPA^(key): /ˈkʌd.zuː/

• Audio (Southern England):

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kudzu (usually uncountable, plural kudzus)

1. An Asian vine (several species in the genus Pueraria, but mostly Pueraria montana var. lobata, syn. Pueraria lobata in the US), grown as a root starch, and which is a notorious invasive weed in the United States.

   Synonyms: Chinese arrowroot, East Asian arrowroot, Japanese arrowroot, kudzu vine, mile-a-minute

   • 2007 November 1, Jeff Goodell, “James Lovelock, the Prophet”, in Rolling Stone‎^[1]:

     By 2020, droughts and other extreme weather will be commonplace. By 2040, the Sahara will be moving into Europe, and Berlin will be as hot as Baghdad. Atlanta will end up a kudzu jungle.

   • 2011 August 31, Ashley Dawson, “Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor: An Interview with Rob Nixon”, in Social Text‎^[2]:

     Walled off communities, private jets, private security details are spreading like kudzu around the world.

   • 2013 September 10, Michiko Kakutani, “A Calamity Tailor-Made for Internet Conspiracy Theories”, in New York Times‎^[3]:

     All the author’s familiar trademarks are here: […] shaggy-dog plotlines sprouting everywhere, like kudzu; […]

2. (cooking, medicine) A starch extracted from the root that is used in traditional East Asian medicine and cuisine.

   Synonym: kudzu powder

   • 1989 November, Drew DeSilver, Jan Gahala, “What is that stuff?”, in Vegetarian Times, →ISSN, page 43:

     Kudzu is available in natural food stores and Oriental markets; it is often sold in lumps that must be crushed in a mortar before measuring.

   • 2009, Annemarie Colbin, Whole-food Guide to Strong Bones, New Harbinger Publications, →ISBN, page 233:

     Kudzu, a starch extracted from the root of the kudzu plant, acts similarly to cornstarch or arrowroot but is preferable for bone health because it contains some calcium.

• The invasive kudzu in the US apparently includes natural hybrids of four species of Pueraria: Pueraria montana, Pueraria edulis, Pueraria phaseoloides, and Pueraria tuberosa.

• kudzu on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• kudzu powder on Wikipedia.Wikipedia