kombucha

English

Etymology

Origin disputed. Possibly from Japanese 昆布茶 (konbucha, literally “kelp (konbu) tea”), a different type of beverage, and not related to fermentation.

Alternatively, derived from Kombu, reportedly a Korean physician who brought the fermented tea to Japan as a curative for Emperor Inkyo in 414 CE + cha (“tea”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑmˈbu.t͡ʃə/, /ˌkɑmˈbu.ʃə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

kombucha (countable and uncountable, plural kombuchas)

1. A fermentation of sweetened tea of Mongolian origin.

   Synonym: (colloquial) booch

   Coordinate terms: kvass, jun

   • 2020, Chad Turner, The Joy of Home Brewing Kombucha‎^[1], Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     Kombucha is the primary focus of this book and arguably the most popular home ferment and aforementioned store-bought probiotic drink.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:kombucha.

Derived terms

• booch

Related terms

• kombu

Translations

fermentation of sweetened tea

• Catalan: kombutxa f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 紅茶菌／红茶菌 (hóngchájūn)

• Finnish: kombutsa (fi)
• German: Kombucha (de) m or n
• Japanese: 紅茶キノコ (kōcha kinoko, literally “tea mushroom”)
• Maori: tī moī
• Polish: kombucza (pl) f
• Portuguese: kombucha m or f
• Russian: ча́йный гриб m (čájnyj grib, literally “tea mushroom”), комбу́тя (kombútja)
• Spanish: kombucha f
• Ukrainian: ча́йний гриб m (čájnyj hryb, literally “tea mushroom”)

Further reading

• “kombucha”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “kombucha”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “kombucha”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Spanish

Noun

kombucha f (plural kombuchas)

1. kombucha