fufu

See also: fufú, fúfu, fūfù, and foo-foo

English

Etymology 1

Several fufu, which are traditionally served in stew

From West African languages such as Ewe, fufú (“white-white”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfuˌfu/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

fufu (uncountable)

1. A dish of boiled, mashed cassava mixed with plantain, yams, or other starchy vegetables, common as food in West and Equatorial Africa and the Caribbean, and sometimes sold in dry powdered or granulated form.
   • [1987 July 29, Steven Barboza, “Culinary Delights of Africa Reflect a Continent's Diversity”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Africans generally serve highly seasoned stews with a starch - corn, millet, yams, cassava or rice - which they mash and whip to a paste, called fufu in West Africa. This is topped with a sauce known as palava.]

   • 2018, Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death, HarperVoyager, page 192:

     “I want some real food,” Binta angrily said. “Like fufu and egusi soup.”

Alternative forms

• foofoo, foo-foo, foufou

Synonyms

• (dish of yams etc): choke-me (Caribbean)

References

• Frederic Gomes Cassidy and Robert Brock Le Page (editors), Dictionary of Jamaican English, Second Edition, University of the West Indies Press (2002), page 185.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Japanese ふふ (fufu, onomatopoeia for the sound of laughter; compare English haha).

Interjection

fufu

1. (fandom slang, chiefly in translations of Japanese works) Alternative form of fufufu (onomatopoeia for laughter; especially a snicker).

Bura

Noun

fufu

1. lungs

References

• Schuh, Russel G.; Shalanguwa, Elisha. Bura-English-Hausa Dictionary

Krio

Etymology

From any of various African languages that share this word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fù.fú/

Noun

fùfú

1. fufu (a dish of boiled, mashed cassava mixed with plantain, yams, or other starchy vegetables)