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shochu

Today it means: A Japanese alcoholic beverage, most commonly distilled from barley, sweet potato or rice. Typically it is 25% alcohol by volume, making it weaker than whisky, but stronger than wine and sake. Full definition →

Middle Chinese 燒酒

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The story

Middle Chinese · derived from燒酒
English todayshochu

From Japanese 焼(しょう)酎(ちゅう) (shōchū), from Middle Chinese 燒酒 (syew tsjuw^X), from 燒 /烧 (shāo, “burn; flammable”) + 酒 (jiǔ, “alcohol”). Compare Mandarin 烧酒 (shāojiǔ), and Korean 소주 (soju). Doublet of shaojiu and soju.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.