luffa
luffa Lexical Profile
luffa Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The coarse, fibrous interior skeleton of the mature fruit of the luffa gourd, dried and used as a bath sponge or household scrubber.
"She used a natural luffa in the shower to exfoliate her skin."
The tender, immature green fruit of the luffa vine, harvested before its interior becomes fibrous and cooked as a culinary vegetable in Asian and African cuisines.
"The chef stir-fried sliced young luffa with garlic and shrimp for dinner."
Any tropical or subtropical climbing vine of the genus Luffa in the cucumber family Cucurbitaceae, native to the Old World tropics and cultivated for its cylindrical gourds.
"We trained the vigorous luffa vines to climb up the garden trellis in the warm summer sun."
• Rhymes for luffa
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 18th century via Modern Latin from Egyptian Arabic 'lufa', the local name for the climbing sponge gourd.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.