Namekos

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Small edible mushrooms with a slippery, gelatinous coating, widely used in Japanese cooking, especially in miso soup and hot pot dishes
2. Clusters of small brown fungi from Japan whose slimy caps are prized as an ingredient in traditional soups and stews
3. Tiny orange-brown wild or cultivated fungi, native to Japan, valued for their glossy jelly-like covering in Japanese cuisine

Etymology: "Namekos" is the English plural of "nameko," a Japanese word for a small brown mushroom (Pholiota nameko) that is cultivated in Japan and prized for the slippery, gelatinous coating on its caps. That coating is what gives the mushroom its name, which likely comes from "nameru," meaning "to be smooth" or "slippery," combined with "ko," a common word for small things and, in this case, mushrooms.