sake

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The benefit, good, or advantage of someone or something.

   They stayed together for the sake of their children.

2. 2
   noun

   The purpose or reason for doing something.

   For the sake of argument, let's say you're right.

3. 3
   noun

   A Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice.

   They served warm sake with the meal.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Sake in ‘for the sake of’ comes from Old English sacu, ‘contention’ or ‘crime’, and a Germanic base meaning ‘affair, legal action, thing’. The phrase may have come from Old Norse and began as a legal expression. The unrelated sake for rice wine comes from Japanese sake, meaning ‘alcohol’, and is recorded in English from the late 17th century.

From Middle English sake (“sake, cause”), from Old English sacu (“cause, lawsuit, legal action, complaint, issue, dispute”), from Proto-West Germanic *saku, from Proto-Germanic *sakō (“affair, thing, charge, accusation, matter”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g- (“to investigate”). Akin to West Frisian saak (“cause; business”), Low German Saak, Dutch zaak (“matter; cause; business”), German Sache (“thing; matter; cause; legal cause”), Danish sag, Swedish and Norwegian sak, Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌾𐍉 (sakjō, “dispute, argument”), Old English sōcn (“inquiry, prosecution”), Old English sēcan (“to seek”). More…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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