licorice

[lik-er-ish, lik-rish, lik-uh-ris]

noun

a Eurasian plant, Glycyrrhiza glabra, of the legume family.
the sweet-tasting, dried root of this plant or an extract made from it, used in medicine, confectionery, etc.
a candy flavored with licorice root.

any of various related or similar plants.

Origin of licorice

1175–1225; Middle English lycorys < Anglo-French < Vulgar Latin *liquiritia for Latin glycyrrhiza < Greek glykýrriza sweetroot (plant), equivalent to glyký(s) sweet + rhíza root¹; see -ia

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for licorice

Contemporary Examples of licorice

Hypoglycemia or Low Blood Sugar - Make a tea from hot water and licorice powder which you drink twice daily.
Use These 15 Home Remedies Based On Ayurveda To Cure Menstrual Cramps, Hangovers, and Indigestion
Ari Meisel
January 21, 2014
Two bottles of stout supplied the necessary lubrication, and there was frequent recourse to a box of licorice pastilles.
Spending a Day With Peter O’Toole
Malcolm Jones
December 16, 2013
Not everybody likes licorice, but people who like licorice really like licorice.
Is Fringe the New Lost?
Jace Lacob
March 10, 2011

Historical Examples of licorice

Or a "pay back sperrit" as Licorice Stick might have called him.
Pee-wee Harris
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
No "sperrit" of Licorice Stick's acquaintance had ever cast a spell like this.
Pee-wee Harris
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
"I done gone make no fools of you, no how:" Licorice Stick exclaimed.
Pee-wee Harris
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
Licorice Stick's encounters with "sperrits" had never brought him a cent.
Pee-wee Harris
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
What had she heard that, if it were known, would cost Abraham and Licorice their lives?
Earl Hubert's Daughter
Emily Sarah Holt

British Dictionary definitions for licorice

licorice

noun

the usual US and Canadian spelling of liquorice

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for licorice

also liquorice, c.1200, from Anglo-French lycoryc, Old French licorece (also recolice), from Late Latin liquiritia, alteration of Latin glychyrrhiza, from Greek glykyrrhiza, literally "sweet root," from glykys "sweet" (see glucose) + rhiza "root" (see radish); form influenced in Latin by liquere "become fluid," because of the method of extracting the sweet stuff from the root. French réglisse, Italian regolizia are the same word, with metathesis of -l- and -r-.