koumiss

Via French koumis, German Kumiss, from Russian кумы́с (kumýs), borrowed from a Turkic source. Compare Tatar кымыз (qımız), Kazakh қымыз (qımız), Kyrgyz кымыз (kımız), Southern Altai кымыс (kïmïs), Turkish kımız, Azerbaijani qımız.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuːmɪs/

koumiss (usually uncountable, plural koumisses)

1. A fermented drink made from mare's milk, common among peoples of the Central Asian steppes.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, page 688:

     Here, for example—a Scythian koumiss vessel, third century B.C. You can clearly see the Greek influence, especially in the friezework.

   • 1898, Herbert Allen Giles, A Chinese Biographical Dictionary, page 12:

     [Of a Persian wine] One name for this wine was 黑水晶 "black crystal"; it has also been confused with koumiss.