miso (fermented soybean paste) · the innards of a crab or shrimp resembling miso · the good part (from the taste of miso)
köken: */misau/ → */misɔ/ → /miso/ From Old Japanese. First attested in Ritsuryō tax records from 738 CE, with the spelling 未醤. Possibly either directly from Middle Chinese 未醬 (MC mj+jH tsjangH), or a coinage in Japan of Middle Chinese-derived elements as a compound of 未 (mi, “not yet, immature”) + 醬 (sō, “sauce”, the older goon reading, from even older sau). Vovin, however, considers it to be a…
miso (usually for thickening soups and sauces or mixed with sinigang or pesa)
köken: Borrowed from Japanese 味噌(みそ) (miso). Alternatively, Manuel (1948) suggested a Hokkien origin. Compare Taiwanese Hokkien 味噌 (mí-soh) which is also from Japanese. See also Taiwanese Hokkien 味素 (bī-sò͘, “monosodium glutamate”).