Kielbasa

Kielbasa, Kovbasa, Kolbasa, and Kubasa are common North American Anglicization for a type of Eastern European sausage.  Synonyms include Polish sausage, Ukrainian sausage, etc. In English, these words refer to a particular genre of sausage, common to all Eastern European countries but with substantial regional variations. In the Slavic languages, these are the generic words for all types of sausage, local or foreign.

Etymology and usage
The terms entered English simultaneously from different sources, which accounts for the different spellings. Usage varies between cultural groups, but overall there is a distinction between American and Canadian usage.

In the United States, the form kielbasa is more often used and comes from the Polish kiełbasa "sausage", perhaps a derivation from the Turkic k�l bast� "grilled cutlet". In New Jersey, Pennsylvania and most areas of Greater New York City, the Czech pronunciation, or possibly a derivative of the Polish word is used, and is usually pronounced "ke-bah-see" or "keu-bah-sah".

In addition to kielbasa, Canadians also use the word kubasa , a corruption of the Ukrainian kovbasa, and Albertans even abbreviate it as kubie to refer to the sausage eaten on a hot dog bun.

United States (general)
In the U.S., "kielbasa" almost always means some form of wiejska (although often not U-shaped and seldom containing veal), which may be unsmoked ("fresh") or fully or partly smoked.  There is also a brand of sausage pronounced the same but spelled Kiolbassa Sausage.

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