juice

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dʒuːs/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English jus, juis, borrowed from Old French jus (“juice, sap, broth”),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin iūs (“broth, sauce, vegetable juice”),^[2][3] related to Sanskrit yūṣa “soup”, Old Church Slavonic jucha “broth” and Lithuanian jūšė “fish soup”, and perhaps to Greek zýmē “leaven”,^[2][3][4][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *yeue- (“to blend, mix food”).^[2] The spellings juyce and juice are from the 16th century.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The liquid part of vegetables or fruits: about 1290 in the OED,^[6] while Etymonline's first sense, about 1300, is liquid obtained by boiling herbs.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The juice of the grape, wine, is from 1387,^[6] and the fluids of the body, now usually in the plural, from 1398.^[6] The figurative sense, the essence or spirit of something, is from about 1380.^[6] In slang, juice has meant liquor since 1828,^[2] electricity since 1896, petrol since 1909 and drugs since 1957;^[6][2] Green's Dictionary records it for the profits of an office as early as 1531.^[7] The verb meant to moisten with juice in 1639 and to extract the juice of a fruit from 1629;^[6] to enliven is from 1964, and juiced, drunk, from 1946.^[2][6] Juicy is from before 1420, in Lydgate, and in the sense “full of interest” from Darwin's letters in 1838.^[3] In Glasgow, juice also meant gravy or sauce.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1290 – the liquid of fruits and vegetables.^[6]
• 1387 – wine.^[6]
• c. 1380 – the essence of something.^[6]
• 1629 – to extract juice.^[6]
• 1828 – liquor (slang).^[2]
• 1896 – electricity (slang).^[6]
• 1909 – petrol (slang).^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The liquid in fruit or vegetables, or a drink made from it.
2. A fluid produced by the body: digestive juices.
3. The liquid that comes from meat when it cooks.
4. (informal) Electricity or fuel such as petrol.
5. (informal) Energy or vitality.

Verb

1. To extract the juice from.

Word family

• juiceless
• juice up

Related words

• juicy
• juicer
• verjuice

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)