Etymology

sarsaparilla

S1A1R1S1A1P3A1R1I1L1L1A1

Today it means: Any of various tropical (Central and South) American vines of the genus Smilax, such as Smilax aspera, which have fragrant roots. Full definition →

Spanish zarzaparrilla
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The story

  1. Spanish · borrowed fromzarzaparrilla
  2. English todaysarsaparilla

From Spanish zarzaparrilla. The first element may ultimately derive from Basque; see Spanish zarza (“blackberry bush”) for more. The usual pronunciation of the first part of the word as /sæsp-/ or /sɑːsp-/ may be due to dissimilatory loss of the first of two r sounds (compare governor /ˈɡʌvənɚ/ and February /ˈfɛb.juˌɛɹi/). Occasionally this word is pronounced with a schwa between the s and the p, or without a schwa between the p and the r.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.