Category: K

What makes this absurdly expensive coffee unique is that the beans used to brew it have been eaten and excreted by an Indonesian civet-cat. That animal is also known as the luwak, and the Malay word for coffee is kopi; put them together, and the result is kopi luwack. Although there were reports of an…

The meaning of knife, unlike that of spoon or fork, has not varied since it was first recorded in English in the eleventh century. Its spelling and pronunciation, however, have changed significantly. From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries the word was spelt cnif, with the initial c being pronounced like a k, and with…

In the early nineteenth century, British scientists studying the flora and fauna of New Zealand decided to name a flightless bird they found there the apteryx, an ugly Greek name meaning wingless. Luckily, however, the British settlers of New Zealand took to calling the bird by its much more mellifluous Maori name, kiwi, which in…

So hot that some nations have considered using it as a plutonium substitute, kimchi is a Korean pickle seasoned with garlic, horseradish, or ginger. The Koreans derived their name for this condiment from the Chinese, who called a similar pickle chen cay, meaning steeped vegetables. The Korean name was introduced to English in the late…

The kidney bean takes its name from its resemblance in shape to the human kidney, an organ that cleanses the blood of wastes. In turn, the kidney takes its own name from something it resembles: an egg. In Middle English, egg was spelt and pronounced ey, which is exactly how it appears at the end…

Although squabbles still erupt over whether the spelling is catsup or ketchup, the original form of the tomato-based condiment’s name was a happy blending of the two spellings—catchup—which appeared in 1690. Today, the ketchup spelling has become established in Britain and Canada, but catsup remains the main form in most parts of the United States.…