Hibachis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A traditional Japanese portable cooking device used for grilling food over charcoal ; a style of restaurant or cooking method emphasizing grilled meats and vegetables prepared on this device ; a small, often decorative, grill or brazier designed for indoor or outdoor use to heat or cook food
2. A charcoal-fueled Japanese grill used for cooking bite-sized pieces of food ; the culinary technique and restaurant environment centered on grilling over this type of grill ; a compact cast iron or metal container designed to hold burning charcoal for heating or cooking purposes
3. A Japanese-style cooking appliance consisting of a shallow, portable grill fueled by charcoal ; a dining experience that involves grilling food tableside on such a device ; a small, often round vessel used for open-flame cooking or warming food indoors or outdoors

Etymology: "Hibachis" is the plural of "hibachi," which came into English around 1870 from Japanese 火鉢, pronounced hibachi and meaning "fire pot." The Japanese word described a portable brazier used for heating a room, not a grill for cooking. The cooking sense came later, as the same charcoal-burning vessel was adapted to grill food, and that is the meaning English speakers now mean by the term. The word is built from two Japanese elements: hi, "fire," and hachi, "bowl" or "pot," so the compound describes the container and its contents together. Because the object was a small, moveable heater, the name stayed attached to the fire-holding vessel rather than to any particular kind of food.

Synonyms: hibachi grills, charcoal grills