loofah

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun the dried fibrous part of the fruit of a plant of the genus Luffa; used as a washing sponge or strainer
noun the loofah climber that has cylindrical fruit

Borrowed from Arabic لُوفَة (lūfa).

So Leslie picked up her chum's rough towels, her loofah and her verbena-scented soap. — The Boy with Wings, Berta Ruck
He waited by the counter, inhaling slowly the keen reek of drugs, the dusty dry smell of sponges and loofahs. — Ulysses, James Joyce
On the Tuesday following, Mr. Parker was just wrestling in prayer with his charlady, who had a tiresome habit of boiling his breakfast kippers till they resembled heavily pickled loofahs, when the telephone whirred aggressively. — Unnatural death, Dorothy L. (Dorothy Leigh) Sayers

loofa, luffa, loufah sponge

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