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liquor

Etymology and origin of the English word liquor

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1200
Borrowed from
Old French licour
Ultimate origin
Latin (liquor)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈlɪk.ə/, US /ˈlɪk.ɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French licour (“fluid, liquid, sap”),[2][3] a learned borrowing of liquor (“liquid, fluidity”),[2][3] from liquēre, to be fluid (see liquid).[2][3][4] French liqueur, borrowed later, is the same word (see liqueur).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A liquid: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[2] about 1200 in Etymonline,[3] before 1225 in the OED.[5]

Semantic evolution

A liquid for drinking is from before 1300,[5] and the narrowed sense, an alcoholic drink, was in use by the early 16th century, with reference to intoxication from before 1529;[5] today it means chiefly distilled spirits.[6][7] Technical senses remain: a solution or bath used in a process (1583), and in brewing, water (1741).[5] The verb, to moisten, is from about 1500, to supply with drink from the 1550s, and liquor up, to get drunk, from 1845.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – a liquid.[3][2]
  • before 1300 – a drink.[5]
  • c. 1500 – to liquor (verb).[3]
  • before 1529 – intoxicating drink.[5]
  • 1583 – a solution used in a process.[5]
  • 1845 – liquor up.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An alcoholic drink, especially a distilled spirit.
  2. The liquid in which food has been cooked.
  3. A solution of a substance in water, or a liquid used in an industrial process.
  4. (brewing) Warm water added to malt.

Verb

  1. (brewing) To steep malt.
  2. (informal) To make drunk, often with up.

Word family

  • liquory
  • antiliquor
  • white liquor
  • black liquor
  • malt liquor
  • mother liquor
  • liqueur
  • liquid
  • liquidate
  • liquidation
  • liquidator
  • liquidity
  • liquefy
  • lixivium

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Liquor.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/liquor. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·