How do you pronounce garlic?

The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɡɑɹlɪk/.

Where does garlic come from?

It is traced to Middle English.

garlic

/ˈɡɑɹlɪk/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.92 in modern English

Syllables: gar-lic
IPA: /ˈɡɑɹlɪk/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A plant, Allium sativum, related to the onion, having a pungent bulb much used in cooking.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A preparation from Allium sativum used as a food ingredient or the flavor or other characteristics of such an ingredient.

Uncountable

verb

To flavor with garlic.

Transitive verb

Example Sentences

"Athletes' use of herbal supplements has skyrocketed in the past two decades. At the top of the list of popular herbs are echinacea and ginseng, whereas garlic, St. John's wort, soybean, ephedra and others are also surging in popularity or have been historically prevalent."
"[…]then through the sunned gathering of her marjoram and sweet basil from the herb garden, reading of book reviews in the latest Scientific American, into the layering of a lasagna, garlicking of a bread, tearing up of romaine leaves, eventually, oven on, into the mixing of the twilight's whisky sours against the arrival of her husband, Wendell (“Mucho) Maas from work, she wondered, wondered, shuffling back through a fat deckful of days which seemed (wouldn't she be first to admit it?) more or less identical, or all pointing the same way subtly like a conjurer's deck, any odd one readily clear to a trained eye."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English garlek, garlik, from Old English gārlēac (“garlic”, literally “spear-leek”), from gār ("spear"; in reference to its sharp, tapering leaves) + lēac (“leek”). Cognate with Scots garlic (“garlic”), Faroese geirleykur (“garlic”), Icelandic geirlaukur (“garlic”).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: garlek, gārlēac

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈɡɑɹlɪk/
British English: /ˈɡɑːlɪk/

Usage

Inflected Forms

garlics (plural) garlick (alternative, obsolete) garlicke (alternative, obsolete) garlics (present, singular) garlicking (participle, present) garlicked (participle, past) garlicked (past)

Derived Forms

garlicky garlicless garliclike garlicmonger garlicwort garlion jarlic pilgarlick

Phrases

bear's garlic bear garlic black garlic broadleaf garlic broad-leaved garlic Canadian garlic clove of garlic crow garlic

Frequently Paired Words

leek alliaceous clove ramp ramson

Synonyms

ail allium sativum

Homonyms

garlick

Rhymes With

garlick elephant garlic