Ras El Hanout
/ˌrɑːs əl həˈnuːt/noun
A North African spice blend, especially associated with Moroccan cuisine.
Did you know?Ras el hanout has no fixed recipe: historically, merchants created signature blends from their finest available spices, sometimes including rare ingredients such as grains of paradise, cubeb, or dried rosebuds.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*raʔš-
“Head or top; the ancestral root behind Arabic raʾs and Hebrew rosh.”
Classical Arabic
Arabic
رَأْس (raʾs)
“Head, summit, or chief part.”
Medieval Arabic
Arabic
حانوت (ḥānūt)
“A shop, store, or small commercial premises.”
Medieval Maghreb
Maghrebi Arabic
رأس الحانوت (raʾs al-ḥānūt)
“Literally “the head of the shop,” referring to a merchant’s premier or signature spice mixture.”
20th Century
French/English
ras el hanout
“A North African culinary spice blend adopted into English food writing.”
Modern English
English
ras el hanout
“A fragrant, variable spice mixture used in North African cooking.”
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