noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
ko͝odʹzo͞o
/ˈkʊd.zuː/
kŭdʹzo͞o
/ˈkʌd.zuː/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:K AH1 D Z UW0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
An Asian vine (several species in the genus Pueraria, but mostly Pueraria montana var. lobata, syn. Pueraria lobata in the US), grown as a root starch, and which is a notorious invasive weed in the United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Chinese arrowroot, East Asian arrowroot, Japanese arrowroot, kudzu vine, mile-a-minute
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A starch extracted from the root that is used in traditional East Asian medicine and cuisine.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: kudzu powder
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
fast-growing vine from eastern Asia having tuberous starchy roots and hairy trifoliate leaves and racemes of purple flowers followed by long hairy pods containing many seeds; grown for fodder and forage and root starch; widespread in the southern United States
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: kudzu vine, Pueraria lobata
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: vine
History
Etymology
From Japanese 葛(くず) (kuzu). The spelling kudzu (instead of kuzu) is due to the historical transliteration methods of Japanese into English (compare adzuki).
Across languages
Translations
17 source translations are retained for this English entry.
