Kudzu
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 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. uncountable, usually
"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."
- 2 fast-growing vine from eastern Asia having tuberous starchy roots and hairy trifoliate leaves and racemes of purple flowers followed by long hairy pods containing many seeds; grown for fodder and forage and root starch; widespread in the southern United States wordnet
- 3 A starch extracted from the root that is used in traditional East Asian medicine and cuisine. uncountable, usually
"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."
Example
More examples"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."
Etymology
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).
Related phrases
More for "kudzu"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.