Meaning

noun fast-growing vine from eastern Asia having tuberous starchy roots and hairy trifoliate leaves and racemes of purple flowers followed by long hairy pods containing many seeds; grown for fodder and fora

originFrom Japanese 葛(くず) (kuzu). The spelling kudzu (instead of kuzu) is due to the historical transliteration methods of Japanese into English (compare adzuki).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0