buckwheat

See also: Buckwheat

English

Buckwheat (plant)

Buckwheat groats

Etymology

Ultimately from Middle Low German bōkwête (“beech-wheat”) (so called because of its triangular seeds, which resemble the much larger seeds of the beech nut from the beech tree, and the fact that it is used like wheat), probably via Middle Dutch boecweit, boecweite. Compare German Buchweizen. Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat, as it is not a grass.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʌkʍiːt/, /ˈbʌkwiːt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

buckwheat (usually uncountable, plural buckwheats)

1. An Asian plant, of the species Fagopyrum esculentum. [from 16th c.]
2. (cooking) The fruit of this plant used as a pseudocereal.
   • 2017, Sam Shepard, chapter 27, in Spy of the First Person, →ISBN, page 62:

     I'll need a few things. I'll need some mayonnaise and a silver tin of sardines, a banana. I'll need some buckwheat flapjack mix.

3. (Western US) Any of the wild buckwheats in the genus Eriogonum.
4. (slang) A slow and painful murder by the Mafia as a warning to others.
   • 2000, Olindo Romeo Chiocca, Mobsters and Thugs: Quotes from the Underworld, page 17:

     Mafia mythology has many believe that the method used to eliminate a person is often a reflection of the respect for that individual. In this case, the Profaci gunman must have witnessed a "buckwheat's" execution, where an example is being made of the victim by inflicting pain for a prolonged period.

   • 2006, Carl Sifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia, page 66:

     Mob murders are seldom buckwheats, being instead simple business matters. An exception is made, however, for murders of example, such as in the case of informers, or mobsters who hold out on gang revenues […]

5. (derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur, US) Curly hair of a black person.
6. (slang) Pubic hair.

Derived terms

• buckwheat cake
• buckwheat coal
• buckwheater
• buckwheatlike
• buckwheat note
• buckwheaty
• Conejo buckwheat
• sulfur buckwheat

 

Translations

Fagopyrum esculentum plant

Arabic: الحنطة السوداء f (ālḥnṭt ās-sūdā') Azerbaijani: qarabaşaq (az) Bashkir: ҡарабойҙай (qaraboyźay) Catalan: fajol m Chinese: Cantonese: 蕎麥／荞麦 (kiu4 mak6) Mandarin: 蕎麥／荞麦 (zh) (qiáomài) Dutch: boekweit (nl) c Erzya ликша (ľikša) Esperanto: fagopiro Finnish: viljatatar (fi), tattari (fi) French: sarrasin (fr) m Galician: trigo sarraceno m Georgian: წიწიბურა (c̣ic̣ibura) German: Buchweizen (de) m Greek: φαγόπυρο (el) n (fagópyro) Hindi: कूटू (hi) m (kūṭū) Hungarian: hajdina (hu) Icelandic: bókhveiti Ingrian: greecina Irish: lus na gcearc ruán m, ruán m Italian: grano saraceno (it) m, fagopiro m Japanese: 蕎麦 (ja) (そば, ソバ, soba) Kalmyk: меерә (meerä) Korean: 메밀 (ko) (memil) Maori: witi paka Mongolian: сагаг (mn) (sagag), сагадай (mn) (sagadaj) Polish: gryka (pl) f Portuguese: trigo-mouro m, trigo-mourisco m, trigo-sarraceno (pt) m, fagópiro m Romanian: hrișcă (ro) f Russian: гречи́ха (ru) f (grečíxa) Scottish Gaelic: cruithneachd-buidhe m Spanish: alforfón (es) m, trigo sarraceno m Swedish: bovete (sv) n Tagalog: hayang trigo Turkish: karabuğday (tr) Ukrainian: гре́чка f (hréčka) Welsh: gwenith yr hydd m Yiddish: רעטשקע f (retshke), גריקע f (grike), טאַטריקע f (tatrike), בוכווייץ m (bukhveyts)

fruit of this plant as cereal

Afrikaans: bokwiet (af) Arabic: حِنْطَة سَوْدَاء f (ḥinṭa sawdāʔ) Armenian: հնդկացորեն (hy) (hndkacʻoren) Azerbaijani: qarabaşaq yarması Bashkir: ҡарабойҙай (qaraboyźay) Belarusian: грэ́чка (be) f (hréčka) Breton: gwinizh-du Bulgarian: елда (bg) f (elda) Catalan: gra de fajol m, blat sarraí m Chinese: Cantonese: 蕎麥／荞麦 (kiu4 mak6) Mandarin: 蕎麥／荞麦 (zh) (qiáomài) Czech: pohanka (cs) f Danish: boghvede c Dutch: boekweit (nl) f, beuktarwe m Esperanto: poligono Estonian: tatar Finnish: tattari (fi) French: blé sarrasin m, blé noir (fr) m, sarrasin (fr) m Gallo: bié naïr m Georgian: წიწიბურა (c̣ic̣ibura) German: Buchweizen (de) m Hebrew: כוסמת (he) f (kusémet) Hindi: कूटू (hi) (kūṭū) Hungarian: hajdina (hu) Icelandic: bókhveiti n, bæki (is) n Ingrian: greecina Irish: ruán m Italian: grano saraceno (it) m Japanese: 蕎麦 (ja) (そば, ソバ, soba) Kalmyk: меерә (meerä) Karelian: (North Karelian) krečču, (South Karelian) greču Kazakh: қарақұмық (qaraqūmyq) Korean: 메밀 (ko) (memil) Latvian: griķi (lv) m pl Lithuanian: grikiai m pl Macedonian: елда f (elda), хелда f (helda) Malayalam: കുതിരഗോതമ്പ് (kutiragōtampŭ) Manchu: ᠮᡝᡵᡝ (mere) Maori: witi paka Mari: Eastern Mari: шемшыдаҥ (šemšydaŋ) Mongolian: сагаг (mn) (sagag), сагадай (mn) (sagadaj) Norwegian: Bokmål: bokhvete Nuosu: ꈾ (mge) Polish: gryka (pl) f Portuguese: trigo-mouro m, trigo-mourisco m, trigo-sarraceno (pt) m Romanian: hrișcă (ro) f Russian: гречи́ха (ru) f (grečíxa), гре́чка (ru) f (gréčka) Scottish Gaelic: cruithneachd-buidhe m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: хељда f Roman: heljda (sh) f Slovak: pohánka (sk) f Slovene: ajda (sl) f Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: hejduša f, pšusnica f Spanish: alforfón (es) m Swedish: bovete (sv) n Tatar: карабодай (tt) (qaraboday) Tibetan: རྒྱ་བྲ (rgya bra) Turkish: karabuğday (tr) Ukrainian: гре́чка f (hréčka) Uzbek: grechka, marjumak Vietnamese: lúa mạch (vi), kiều mạch Welsh: gwenith yr hydd f Yiddish: רעטשקע f (retshke), גריקע f (grike), טאַטריקע f (tatrike), בוכווייץ m (bukhveyts)

plant of the genus Eriogonum — see wild buckwheat

Further reading

• buckwheat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Fagopyrum esculentum on Wikispecies.Wikispecies