licorice

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English licoris, also spelled licoriz, lycorys and liquorice,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French licoris, the Anglo-Norman form,^[5][6][7] and Old French licorece, also licoresse.^{[8][3][9][10][7]} The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the late 12th century.^[5] The French forms come from Late Latin liquiritia,^{[3][9][4][11]} an alteration of Latin glycyrrhiza,^[3][9][11] which is from Ancient Greek γλυκύρριζα (glukúrrhiza, “sweet root”),^[3][12][1] a compound of γλυκύς (glukús, “sweet”) and ῥίζα (rhíza, “root”).^[1][12][4] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace the second part to Proto-Indo-European *wrād- (“branch, root”).^[3][4] The Late Latin form was shaped by Latin liqueō (“to be liquid, flow”), with reference to the way the sweet extract was obtained from the root,^[11][3][4] and Hoad and the Shorter Oxford see the influence of Old French licor, liquor.^[6][7][13] With the l and r swapped, the same word became Old French ricolice and modern French réglisse,^[12][3] and in Italian legorizia became regolizia.^[12][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The root of the licorice plant, or a preparation made from it: about 1205 in the OED,^[14] in Layamon's Brut, where a host hands out cinnamon, ginger and licoriz among the townsmen.^[2][11] Barnhart dates this record to probably before 1200,^[11] Etymonline to about 1200,^[3] and Dictionary.com places the word in 1175–1225.^[15]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word named the dried root used in medicine and cooking, and also the plant itself;^[2] Chaucer has it five times, as lycorys and lycorice.^[16] The OED's first records for the plant, Glycyrrhiza glabra, and for other plants whose roots resemble it or replace it, both date from 1548.^[14][17] Johnson (1755) defined licorice as a root of sweet taste, quoting a description of the thickened juice brought from Spain and Holland and called Spanish juice.^[18] The preparation was used both as a medicine and as a sweet, today usually a black, chewy substance.^[7][19] In Yorkshire dialect the word was used for treacle boiled and rolled into sticks.^[20]

Timeline

• c. 1205 – the root of the plant, and a preparation from it used as a medicine and a sweet.^[14][2]
• 1548 – the plant Glycyrrhiza glabra.^[14][17]
• 1548 – with a qualifying word, other plants whose roots resemble licorice or are used in its place.^[14][17]

Meanings

Noun

1. The dried root of a Mediterranean plant of the pea family, sweet in taste, used in medicine and as a flavouring.^[9][19][7]
2. An extract of this root, usually made into a black, chewy paste.^[9][7][21]
3. A sweet flavoured with licorice or with a substitute such as anise: She bought a twist of red licorice at the cinema.^[9][19]
4. The plant itself, Glycyrrhiza glabra, a perennial with pale blue flowers and flat pods.^[19][9][7]
5. With a qualifying word, any of several plants whose roots resemble licorice or are used in its place, as Indian licorice and wild licorice.^[7][14]

Word family

• licorice stick
• Indian licorice
• liquorice allsorts

Related words

• glycyrrhiza
• liquor
• glucose
• rhizome
• glycerin

Usage notes

Licorice is the usual spelling in American and Canadian English, and liquorice the usual British one.^{[19][21][13][22]} According to Wiktionary, the American spelling stays closer to the Old French source, while the British spelling was influenced by the unrelated word liquor.^[1] The word is pronounced with a final /s/ or /ʃ/.^[9][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
16. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
17. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
19. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
20. ^ 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)
21. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
22. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster