Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A usually spicy Korean dish made of vegetables, such as cabbage or radishes, that are salted, seasoned, and allowed to ferment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A Korean dish made of vegetables, such as cabbage or radishes, that are salted, seasoned, and stored in sealed containers to undergo lactic acid fermentation.
  • noun slang, vulgar, pejorative A Korean person.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Korean kimch’i, possibly from an unattested Old Korean form *kimch’ae : kim, salty (from Middle Chinese γəɨm; also the source of Mandarin xián) + ch’ae, vegetable, greens (from Middle Chinese tshaj`; see bok choy).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Korean 김치 (gimchi)

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Examples

Comments

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  • spicy!

    October 12, 2007

  • Frankly, I'm not a fan, although I do appreciate the creativity it took to say, "hey, let's take that delicious, crispy cabbage and soak it in yucky vinegar for several months," similar to the creativity it requires to keep a sentence aloft through endless phrases, clauses, and comma-splices, like a balloon batted aloft by a group of bored adolescents late at night.

    That was so illegal. :)

    October 12, 2007

  • I'm told that many Koreans have a separate refrigerator for kimchi. Does anyone know if they have a special word for it?

    October 12, 2007

  • The kimchi refrigerator debuted in 1995 and quickly became a very popular appliance in Korea. No special word for it, but in Hangul the phrase is 김치냉장고. More information here and here.

    October 12, 2007

  • This is excellent in winter!

    October 12, 2007