Agar by jekky

The word "agar" comes from the Malay word agar-agar (meaning jelly). It is also known as kanten, China grass, or Japanese isinglass. The various species of alga or seaweed from which agar is derived are sometimes called Ceylon moss. Gracilaria lichenoides specifically is referred to as agal-agal or Ceylon agar. 
In Malay and Indonesian, it is known as agar-agar. In Japanese, it is known as kanten () meaning "cold weather," referring to the fact that it is harvested in the winter months. In Mandarin Chinese as hici () meaning "ocean vegetable", hizoqingzh () or dngfn (). In Taiwanese Hokkien it is known as chhi-in () meaning "vegetable swiftlet," i.e., similar in texture to the nest of the edible-nest swiftlet used in bird's nest soup. In Korea, it is known as hancheon (). In the Philippines, it is known as gulaman in Tagalog, Apayao, Bikol, and Pangasinan, guraman in Ilokano and gurguraman in Sambali. In Thai it is known as won (). In Tamil and Telugu it's called as paal kasuv.