Etymograph

English

konjac

Konjac comes from Japanese 蒟蒻.

  1. Japanesemodern蒟蒻
  2. Englishearliest quotation 2019konjac

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Japanesemodern蒟蒻
  2. Englishearliest quotation 2019konjac

Earliest quotation: 2019, Rebecca Smithers, Something smells fishy. Is it the vegan smoked salmon – made: “Waitrose buyers are predicting the growing popularity of konjac,…”

The story

The Japanese term probably derives from Old Japanese, in turn from Middle Chinese 蒟蒻 (MC kjuX|kjuH nyak). The plant is not native to the Japanese archipelago, and was imported from China.

Today it means

noun A foul-smelling plant grown in Asia, Amorphophallus konjac.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Japanese 蒟蒻 / konjac