ponzu
noun
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.
Examples of ponzu in a Sentence
Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 4 Apr. 2024
Hamachi crudo served with ponzu, basil wasabi cream and pink peppercorns.
—The Arizona Republic, 15 Feb. 2024
Among the signature dishes on the New American menu: wasabi tuna tartar with avocado, citrus, ponzu and bubu arare; pumpkin butter rolls with maple butter and rosemary salt; oxtail bucatini; and branzino with cannellini beans, cherry tomatoes, nicoise olives and artichokes.
—Miami Staff, Miami Herald, 30 Jan. 2024
Start with the refreshing tuna tartar, served on avocado with ponzu, with bright chunks of fish, or wade right into what The Amalfi Llama excels at: the meat.
—Connie Ogle, Miami Herald, 29 Jan. 2024
Live scallops with tomato, soy ponzu, olive oil, and marinated seaweed.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 22 Oct. 2023
Truffle sashimi with tuna, hamachi, chili ponzu and black truffle purée.
—Bahar Anooshahr, The Arizona Republic, 12 Aug. 2023
The restaurant spills over two terraces facing Navy Pier, Lake Michigan, and the Chicago River, where patrons can dine on shareable plates of hamachi with white ponzu and lemon and crispy whole snapper with herb salad and ginger miso.
—Dobrina Zhekova, Travel + Leisure, 18 Aug. 2023
Yes, there would be oysters on the half shell from around the Mid-Atlantic, but some of them would be dressed with blood orange ponzu and chili crunch.
—Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 11 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ponzu.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near ponzu
Cite this Entry
“Ponzu.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ponzu. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share