Rice
/raɪs/noun
A cereal grain that is a staple food for much of the world.
Did you know?The English word ultimately comes from a chain that passed through Greek and Latin from an ancient Indo-Iranian word, showing how one staple food left a linguistic footprint across continents.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-Iranian
PII
*wr̥h₁-ih₃-s / *vrīh-
“rice or husked grain”
Sanskrit
Sanskrit
vrihí-
“rice”
Ancient Greek
Greek
ὄρυζα (óryza)
“rice”
Latin
Latin
oriza
“rice”
Old French
Old French
ris
“rice”
Middle English
English
rice
“rice”