Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Word of the Day 8/17/2010

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

Example Sentence: "Alternate slices of avocado with seared tuna on a plate and drizzle with store-bought ponzu sauce." (Marlene Parrish, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 15, 2010)

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.

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day

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