Absinthes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of highly alcoholic spirit flavored with herbs, most notably wormwood
2. a greenish liqueur often associated with a bohemian lifestyle and a history of being banned in several countries
3. a drink that is typically diluted with water and served with sugar to temper its strong taste

Etymology: "Absinthes" is simply the plural of "absinthe," so the story belongs to the singular. The word's oldest sense is the plant itself: wormwood, the bitter herb. Its Ancient Greek form, "apsinthion," named that plant, and it passed through Latin "absinthium" and Middle French into English, where it already carried the figurative sense of bitterness and sorrow before it ever named a drink. The liqueur took the name later, when the word came into Modern French to describe the drink made by steeping wormwood in alcohol. The plant's bitterness is the thread linking the two senses: the herb gave the spirit its flavour, and the spirit kept the herb's name.

Synonyms: wormwood, liqueur, spirit, bitters, elixir