spice

English

/spaɪs/

noun
Definitions
  • (countable) Aromatic or pungent plant matter (usually dried) used to season or flavour food.
  • (figurative) Appeal, interest; an attribute that makes something appealing, interesting, or engaging.
  • (uncountable) A synthetic cannabinoid drug.
  • (uncountable) Sweets, candy.
  • (obsolete) Species; kind.
  • A characteristic touch or taste; smack; flavour.
  • An aromatic odour.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English spice derived from Old French espice derived from Latin speciēs (kind, type, appearance, sort), speciēs (kind, type, appearance, sort) root from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (look, see).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*speḱ-

Gloss

look, see

Concept
Semantic Field

Sense perception

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Kanji

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms