spice

B1 Topic:Food & Drink

US /spaɪs/ See IPA manual

Freq #7689

Meanings

1

noun
A strong-tasting or aromatic part of a plant, usually dried, used to flavor food.

Indian cooking uses a rich mixture of spices like cumin and turmeric.
2

verb
To add spice or seasoning to food.

She spiced the stew with ginger and cinnamon.
3

noun
Something that adds excitement or interest.

A little humor added some spice to his otherwise dull speech.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms spicedspicesspicing

Derived forms allspicebespiceoverspicepondspicespiceberryspiceboxspicebushspicefulspiceheadspicehousespicelandspiceless

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Italic *spekjō Late Latin speciō Proto-Italic *-jēs Late 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.

spice Middle English espice Old French speciēs Latin

View etymology graph ->

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# spice

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /spaɪs/
**Frequency rank:** 7689

## Meanings
1. A strong-tasting or aromatic part of a plant, usually dried, used to flavor food.
2. To add spice or seasoning to food.
3. Something that adds excitement or interest.

## Examples
- Indian cooking uses a rich mixture of spices like cumin and turmeric.
- She spiced the stew with ginger and cinnamon.
- A little humor added some spice to his otherwise dull speech.

## Derived Forms
- allspice
- bespice
- overspice
- pondspice
- spiceberry
- spicebox
- spicebush
- spiceful
- spicehead
- spicehouse
- spiceland
- spiceless

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: spice
- Root: espice
- Root: speciēs

## Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Italic *spekjō Late Latin speciō Proto-Italic *-jēs Late 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.

## AI Etymology
The etymological chain for spice runs Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *spéḱyeti Proto-Italic *spekjō Late Latin speciō Proto-Italic *-jēs Late 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. Important forms in the word's history include Middle English spice, Old French espice, la-lat speciēs, Latin speciēs. In current use it includes senses such as A strong-tasting or aromatic part of a plant, usually dried, used to flavor food and To add spice or seasoning to food.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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spice

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