Everyday LifeGreek → English
Rice
/raɪs/noun
The starchy grain of a marsh grass grown as a staple food across much of the world.
The Greek roots
ὄρυζα
óryza
rice
Literally: “rice grain”
Follow a root:ὄρυζα1 word
The story of the word
Greek soldiers met the crop in the East during Alexander's campaigns and brought back the word ὄρυζα, itself borrowed from an Iranian or older Asian source. Latin took it as oryza, Italian softened it to riso, and Old French ris carried it into English. The botanical genus Oryza still preserves the Greek spelling.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Italian → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 13th century
In a sentence
She rinsed the rice three times until the water ran clear.