How to Use fugu in a Sentence

fugu

noun
  • Last year, a warm winter led to smaller and more scarce fugu.
    — Paul Takahashi, Houston Chronicle, 6 Apr. 2018
  • Tiger blowfish is supposed to be the most delicious kind of fugu.
    — New York Times, 22 May 2018
  • Pumpkin toadlets are poisonous, secreting the same toxin found in fugu, or puffer fish.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 1 May 2021
  • The fugu genome gave geneticists a valuable point of comparison to the human genome.
    — Bob Holmes, Discover Magazine, 21 May 2018
  • Venkatesh has seen an enormous growth in sequencing power and technology since the early days of fugu.
    — Bob Holmes, Discover Magazine, 21 May 2018
  • The horse meat and fugu flavors are vegan, and casu marzu is vegetarian.
    — Michelle Shen, USA TODAY, 16 Nov. 2021
  • Debates have gone back and forth for years in Japanese society over the regulation of fugu.
    — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 11 Dec. 2018
  • Pufferfish, or fugu, is an expensive delicacy often served in the form of paper-thin sashimi slices.
    — Joseph Hincks, Time, 16 Jan. 2018
  • While some fish of this species are edible when handled correctly — like fugu, a delicacy in Japan — this one is not.
    — Sarah Dadouch, Washington Post, 8 Sep. 2022
  • Known as ‘the king of winter delicacies,’ fugu stands as a proud symbol of Japanese food culture.
    — Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 17 May 2026
  • In 1984, serving fugu was banned in Japanese restaurants.
    — Scott Lafee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Feb. 2026
  • There is Nippon, the stage where, since 1963, soba, fugu and other things have danced into the city’s consciousness.
    — New York Times, 26 Oct. 2021
  • The five packets of fugu that triggered the alarm in Gamagori were sold with their livers still in place, Agence France-Presse reports.
    — Joseph Hincks, Time, 16 Jan. 2018
  • In fact, eating fugu is so dangerous that it was outlawed in the 16th century, though many secretly kept the tradition alive.
    — Jessica Poitevien, Travel + Leisure, 29 Nov. 2021
  • Tamale, an important trading hub in northern Ghana, is known for its fugu clothing, a type of smock with roots in the Malian and Songhai empires.
    — Edna Bonhomme, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Indeed, the mere hint of danger — rather like eating poisonous fugu fish from a reputable sushi bar in Tokyo — may well have added to the overall exhilaration of the evening.
    — Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2021
  • Search [fugu poison] to find that the poison is tetrodotoxin, aka TTX or tetrodox, and is found primarily in the liver of the puffer fish.
    — Ken Denmead, WIRED, 9 Nov. 2011
  • Also known locally as batakari, the loose-fitting fugu smock is made from handwoven strips of cotton fabric stitched together to form a flowing robe, often worn over trousers and paired with a matching cap.
    — ABC News, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Under Japanese law, fugu chefs must undergo extensive apprenticeships of up to three years before they are licensed and allowed to handle and prepare the fish for food.
    — Heather Chen, CNN, 10 Apr. 2023
  • In very, very, very low doses, tetrodotoxin causes numbness, tingling, and the slight lightheadedness that fugu, the Japanese preparation of raw pufferfish flesh, is known for.
    — Christie Wilcox, Discover Magazine, 30 Dec. 2013
  • Their saliva contains the potent nerve toxin tetrodotoxin, the same compound that makes California newts, harlequin frogs, and fugu pufferfish liver so deadly.
    — Eric Scigliano, National Geographic, 15 Oct. 2019
  • Unlike fugu, Japan’s riskiest delicacy, lionfish is harmless.
    — Ben Lowy, Smithsonian, 23 May 2018
  • Complimentary babysitting lets parents slip off to the spa or the hotel’s Italian-Japanese fugu restaurant—proof that this is a family hotel that treats adults, too.
    — Adam H. Graham, Time, 12 Mar. 2026
  • Tunnel through the swarm and razzle-dazzle, the urgent flashing cries for everything from Asahi to fugu (blowfish) joints, and make your way to the comparatively sedate red-on-yellow façade of Creo-ru.
    — Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Oct. 2018
  • Many people worry that raw-milk cheese is a kind of edible petri dish of contagion and disease, a dangerous delicacy not unlike Japanese fugu, the poisonous blowfish, which, if not prepared expertly, can kill you.
    — Joshua Levine, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Nov. 2021
  • The Hiramatsu puts a particular focus on food—the hotel actually started out as a restaurant—and makes use of local produce on Shima to curate a unique menu from spiny lobster, fugu (puffer fish), ormers and rock oysters.
    — Ashley Ogawa Clarke, Vogue, 27 Oct. 2022
  • In a studio in Accra, Perfectual Linnan, a fashion designer and founder of Roots by Linnan, recreates the fugu fabric into jackets, trousers and tops designed for everyday wear.
    — ABC News, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama in early February visited Zambia wearing a fugu garment, prompting ridicule from some social media users.
    — ABC News, 23 Feb. 2026
  • The fugu smock, however, gained more prominence in March 1957 when Ghana’s first President Kwame Nkrumah wore it during the country’s inaugural independence ceremony.
    — ABC News, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Its newest opening, the 187-room Risonare Shimonoseki, debuted in December on the busy harborfront of Shimonoseki, a food lovers’ destination an hour from Fukuoka and famous for fugu, the notoriously poisonous puffer fish.
    — Adam H. Graham, Time, 12 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fugu.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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