spice
/spaɪs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.94 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Aromatic or pungent plant matter (usually dried) used to season or flavor food.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Vanilla itself was transplanted from Madagascar, the main source of the spice, to Polynesia a century ago."
- "What spice level do you want for your pad thai? I recommend mild."
- "variety is the spice of life"
- "Honor, a^([sic]) 18-year-old high school student who thinks she has it more together than her fellow students and who looks to both Leslie and Bernie to provide friendship and spice in her life."
- "Let's go daan to t'spice shop an see what they've i stock"
- ""I'm not going to promise anything after the perfectly fetid way you're running off," she retorted. "Still, it's pretty obvious that I shall stay here and do what I can for poor Geoffrey in the circumstances." It occurred to the hearer […] that there was a spice of "It is my duty and I will" in this praiseworthy resolve which fell short of the ecstatic resolution of the Saturday Nora."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Italic *spekjō Latin speciō Proto-Italic *-jēs Latin -iēs Late Latin speciēs Old French espicebor. Anglo-Norman specebor. Middle English spice English spice Inherited from Middle English spice, from Old French espice (modern épice), from Late Latin speciēs (“spice, good, ware”), from Latin speciēs (“kind, sort”). Doublet of species.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: spice, espice, speciēs