Meanings
- uncountableUndaria pinnatifida, a sea plant native to Japan and Korea and invasive elsewhere; wakame; Asian kelp.
We previously reported that water extract of Mekabu, a kind of seaweed, induced apoptosis in a human breast cancer cell line.
2005, Sekiya M, Funahashi H, Tsukamura K, Imai T, Hayakawa A, Kiuchi T, Nakao A, “Intracellular signaling in the induction of apoptosis in a human breast cancer cell line by water extract of Mekabu”, in International Journal of Clinical Oncology, page 122 - uncountableStems or thick leaves from near the stem of the plant, eaten as a vegetable.
Mekabu is the flowering sprout of wakame. It has a strong, sweet, and creamy taste and is traditionally brewed into a tea or cooked in small amounts with other foods.
1985, Michio and Aveline Kushi, Macrobiotic Diet, page 1571 more example
Forget crispy fried nori or pliant hijiki: mekabu comes in a coating of—there's no other word for it—goo. As one chews, it starts to expand, until suffocation starts to seem like a real possibility.
2006, Leo Carey, “Yakitori Totto; Tables for two”, in The New Yorker, page 14
Origin
- Japaneseメカブ“thick wakame leaves”
- Englishmekabu
Borrowed from Japanese メカブ (“thick wakame leaves”).
More words from Japanese
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
mekabu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mekabu
“mekabu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mekabu. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mekabu,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mekabu.
Source: mekabu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.