glutinous rice

noun

: a cultivated short-grain rice that is plump and sticky when cooked : sticky rice
Glutinous rice is a somewhat stubby variety of short-grained rice, which despite its name is gluten free. It is quite starchy however.Eileen Yin-Fei Lo
… bowls of glutinous rice steamed with salty duck yolk, fresh shrimp, dried scallop, and shiitakes.Fuchsia Dunlop

Examples of glutinous rice in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Several of the recipes below use glutinous rice flour, a staple of East and Southeast Asian cooking that makes all kinds of tempting treats (mochi among them). Hannah Lee Leidy, Bon Appetit Magazine, 7 Mar. 2026 The fifteenth and final day of the holiday is the Lantern Festival, during which people have tangyuan, or sweet glutinous rice balls. Lucia Cheng, Des Moines Register, 17 Feb. 2026 The fifteenth and final day of the holiday is the Lantern Festival, during which people have tangyuan, or sweet glutinous rice balls, and children carry lanterns around the neighborhood at night to mark the end of the celebration, according to the National Museum of Asian Art. Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 16 Feb. 2026 Cantonese-style nian gao, made with brown sugar syrup, coconut milk, and glutinous rice flour, is steamed, sliced, then pan-fried. Randi Gollin, Martha Stewart, 2 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for glutinous rice

Word History

First Known Use

1835, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of glutinous rice was in 1835

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Cite this Entry

“Glutinous rice.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/glutinous%20rice. Accessed 12 Mar. 2026.

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