WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
kim•chi
(kim′chē),USA pronunciation n.
- Food[Korean Cookery.]a spicy pickled or fermented mixture containing cabbage, onions, and sometimes fish, variously seasoned, as with garlic, horseradish, red peppers, and ginger.
- Middle Chinese, equivalent. to Chinese chén steeped + cày vegetables
- Korean kimch'i, hypercorrection of cimch'i, earlier timchoy
- 1895–1900