mochi

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   A soft, chewy Japanese food made by pounding sticky steamed rice into a smooth dough, often served as a sweet treat.

   Grammar: Usually uncountable for the food; a piece is a mochi or one mochi.

   Patterns

   • mochi filled with something

   We bought mochi filled with sweet red bean paste at the market.

   Grilled mochi tastes crisp outside and soft inside.

   Her favorite dessert is strawberry mochi.

2. 2nouncountableinformal

   A small ball of ice cream wrapped in this rice dough, eaten as a frozen dessert.

   Grammar: A countable noun: a box of mochi ice cream.

   Patterns

   • mochi ice cream

   He shared a box of mochi ice cream with his friends.

   The shop sells mango mochi in the freezer section.

Word forms

Common combinations

mochi ice cream

Mochi ice cream comes in flavors like green tea and mango.

sweet mochi

We shared sweet mochi after dinner.

pound mochi

Families pound mochi together at New Year.

grilled mochi

Grilled mochi with soy sauce is a simple snack.

red bean mochi

I prefer red bean mochi to the plain kind.

Synonyms and how they differ

rice cake

Rice cake is a general English term that also covers dry puffed snacks, so it is less specific than mochi.

daifuku

Daifuku is a particular mochi sweet with a filling, so it is narrower than mochi.

dango

Dango are skewered rice dumplings, similar in chewiness but made from rice flour rather than pounded rice.

Word family

mochigome noun

the glutinous rice used to make mochi

mochitsuki noun

the Japanese tradition of pounding rice into mochi

Commonly confused: mochi or mocha?

Practice

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