musubi

English

Etymology

From Japanese 結び (musubi, “rice ball”).

Noun

musubi (countable and uncountable, plural musubi or musubis)

1. A ball of rice covered with nori (in Japanese cuisine, including in Hawaii), to which meat or salted or fermented vegetables are often added, differing from sushi in that the rice is not vinegared.

   Synonym: onigiri

   • 1996, Rachel Laudan, The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii's Culinary Heritage, page 53:

     Unlike sushi, musubi is neither vinegared nor sweetened.

   • 2006, Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food, OUP Oxford, →ISBN:

     Even the fact that it can be carved is endearing because it makes Spam easy to shape for sushi and musubi.

Derived terms

• spam musubi

Japanese

Romanization

musubi

1. Rōmaji transcription of むすび