Etymology

spice

S1P3I1C3E1

Today it means: Aromatic or pungent plant matter (usually dried) used to season or flavor food. Full definition →

Middle English spice ← Anglo-Norman spece ← Old French espice
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spice · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*speḱ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*spéḱyeti
  3. Proto-Italic*spekjō
  4. Latinspeciō
  5. Late Latinspeciēs
  6. Old Frenchespice
  7. Anglo-Normanspece
  8. Middle Englishspice
  9. English todayspice

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 · noun2

Formed by analogy with lice and mice as the plurals of louse and mouse. First attested use Christopher Morley in “Morley's Magnum” (1935). Made popular by Robert A. Heinlein in Time Enough for Love (1973).

Words from the same roots

Latinspeciēs all →

specificspeciestranspeciate

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.