horchata

H4O1R1C3H4A1T1A1
/(h)ɔːɹˈt͡ʃɑːtə/

noun

A sweet beverage variously made with rice, chufa or morro seeds (or, historically, barley), water, sugar, and cinnamon, and sometimes with milk.

OriginSpanish horchata ← Vulgar Latin *hordeata ← Valencian orxata →
Scrabble 16
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Meanings

nounhorchata (countable and uncountable, plural horchatas)

plural horchatas

  1. countableuncountableA sweet beverage variously made with rice, chufa or morro seeds (or, historically, barley), water, sugar, and cinnamon, and sometimes with milk.

    Manufacturers from the villages surrounding the capital of the region came each day to the city of Valencia with carts pulled by donkeys to sell fresh horchata, tiger nuts and barley water.

    2011, Miguel-Angel Galindo, Domingo Ribeiro, Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economics: New Perspectives, Practices, and Policies, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 66

Origin

  1. Italianorzata
  2. Valencianorxata
  3. Vulgar Latin*hordeata“(drink, food) made of barley”
  4. Spanishhorchata
  5. Englishhorchata

Borrowed from Spanish horchata, ultimately from Vulgar Latin *hordeata (“(drink, food) made of barley”), from hordeum (“barley”), either via Catalan/Valencian orxata (possibly via a Mozarabic source), or via Italian orzata. Doublet of orgeat (“almond syrup”) and orzo (“barley-shaped pasta”).

More words from Spanish, Vulgar Latin, Valencian

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Basque hortxata
  • hortxatasweet beverage
Catalan orxata
  • orxatasweet beverage
Dutch orgeade
  • orgeadesweet beverage
French orgeat, orgeade
  • orgeatsweet beverage
  • orgeadesweet beverage
Hindi ओर्चाता
  • ओर्चाता (orcātā)sweet beverage
Japanese オルチャータ
  • オルチャータ (oruchāta)sweet beverage
Korean 오르차타
  • 오르차타 (oreuchata)sweet beverage
Polish horchata
  • horchatasweet beverage
Spanish horchata
  • horchatasweet beverage
Cite this entry
APA

horchata. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/horchata

MLA

“horchata.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/horchata. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “horchata,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/horchata.

Source: horchata on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.