shochu
shochu noun: a Japanese alcoholic beverage, most commonly distilled from barley, sweet potato or rice. Typically it is 25% alcohol by volume, making it weaker than whisky, but stronger than wine and sake.
Noun
shochu (usually uncountable, plural shochus)
- A Japanese alcoholic beverage, most commonly distilled from barley, sweet potato or rice. Typically it is 25% alcohol by volume, making it weaker than whisky, but stronger than wine and sake.
- Lightly flavored shochus, like the barley-based Iichiko, are good mixed with soda water made on the premises with fresh lemon or in a cocktail like the Natsushima […]2022, Steve Reddicliffe, The New York Times Essential Book of Cocktails (Second Edition) (page 582)
Forms of shochu
| plural | shochus |
|---|---|
| alternative form | shōchū |
Origin of shochu
From Japanese 焼(しょう)酎(ちゅう) (shōchū), from Middle Chinese 燒酒 (syew tsjuw^X), from 燒 /烧 (shāo, “burn; flammable”) + 酒 (jiǔ, “alcohol”). Compare Mandarin 烧酒 (shāojiǔ), and Korean 소주 (soju). Doublet of shaojiu and soju.
Questions about shochu
- What does shochu mean?
- Shochu means a Japanese alcoholic beverage, most commonly distilled from barley, sweet potato or rice. Typically it is 25% alcohol by volume, making it weaker than whisky, but stronger than wine and sake.
- What part of speech is shochu?
- Shochu is a noun.
- What is the plural of shochu?
- The plural of shochu is shochus.
Words near shochu in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: shochu (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “shochu.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shochu. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.