Rice

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɹaɪs/

Definitions

1. A cereal grain with white or brown kernels that are boiled or steamed as a staple food, or the plant that produces these edible seeds
2. A grain commonly consumed as a staple food, known for being either white or brown, and sourced from a plant that yields these seeds
3. A vital food source made from seeds of a grass that grows in water, often served in dishes around the world as a primary carbohydrate

Etymology: The grain's name in English has a surprising double life. Alongside the familiar word for the food, English has a second, older "rice" meaning "twig" or "brushwood", which came from Old English "hrīs" and is related to Dutch "rijs" and German "Reis", both meaning twig. The two words are unrelated, and the food word arrived much later by a long detour. The food sense travelled from southern Asia through the Middle East and into Europe. Its ultimate source is probably an Eastern Iranian language, and it may trace further back to Sanskrit "vrīhi", though this link is only theorised. It reached Greek as "óruza", then Old Italian "riso", and Old French "ris", before English borrowed it as "rys" in Middle English. Some scholars suggest an even earlier Dravidian or Austroasiatic origin, but this remains speculative. The word is a doublet of "arroz", the Spanish and Portuguese word for the grain, which came from Arabic and reached the Iberian peninsula by a separate route. Both words descend from the same ancient source, which is why they look and sound so alike despite arriving in different languages by different paths.

Synonyms: grain, cereal