different between licorice vs lick

English

Alternative forms

• liquorice (Britain, Ireland, India) (See the usage notes below)

Etymology

From Middle English lycorys, from Old French licoresse, from Late Latin liquiritia, alteration of Ancient Greek ?????????? (glukúrrhiza): ?????? (glukús, “sweet”) + ???? (rhíza, “root”) (English glucose, English rhizome). Doublet of glycyrrhiza.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?l?.k(?).???/, /?l?.k(?).??s/

Noun

licorice (usually uncountable, plural licorices)

1. (countable) The plant Glycyrrhiza glabra, or sometimes in North America the related American Licorice plant Glycyrrhiza lepidota.
2. (uncountable) A type of candy made from that plant's dried root or its extract.

   Synonym: (Scotland, informal) sugarallie

3. (countable and uncountable) A black colour, named after the licorice.

4. (uncountable, chemistry) A flavouring agent made from dried root portions of the aforementioned plant.

Usage notes

The American spelling is nearer the Old French source licorece, which is ultimately from Ancient Greek ?????????? (glukúrrhiza). The British spelling was influenced by the unrelated word liquor. Licorice prevails in Canada and it is common in Australia, but it is rarely found in the UK. Liquorice is all but nonexistent in the US ("Chiefly British", according to dictionaries).

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• crab’s eye
• sambuca
• Pontefract cake
• rosary pea
• allsorts

Further reading

• Liquorice on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

Middle English

Noun

licorice

1. Alternative form of lycorys

English

Etymology

From Middle English likken, from Old English liccian, from Proto-West Germanic *likk?n, from Proto-Germanic *likk?n? (compare Saterland Frisian likje, Dutch likken, German lecken), from Proto-Indo-European *ley??- (compare Old Irish ligid, Latin ling? (“lick”), ligguri? (“to lap, lick up”), Lithuanian laižyti, Old Church Slavonic ?????? (lizati), Ancient Greek ????? (leíkh?), Old Armenian ????? (lizem), Persian ??????? (lisidan), Sanskrit ???? (lé?hi), ???? (ré?hi)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Noun

lick (plural licks)

1. The act of licking; a stroke of the tongue.

2. The amount of some substance obtainable with a single lick.

3. A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue.
4. A place where animals lick minerals from the ground.

5. A small watercourse or ephemeral stream. It ranks between a rill and a stream.

6. (colloquial) A stroke or blow.

7. (colloquial) A small amount; a whit.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:modicum

   • 2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1):

     Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Why don't I call Jean-Michel at Il Portofino? We'll get a table outside? Ooh, I'm not getting a lick of service. Babe, can I hop on your landline?

8. (informal) An attempt at something.
9. (music) A short motif.

10. (informal) A rate of speed. (Always qualified by good, fair, or a similar adjective.)
11. (slang) An act of cunnilingus.

Translations

Verb

lick (third-person singular simple present licks, present participle licking, simple past and past participle licked)

1. (transitive) To stroke with the tongue.

2. (transitive) To lap; to take in with the tongue.

3. (colloquial) To beat with repeated blows.
4. (colloquial) To defeat decisively, particularly in a fight.

5. (colloquial) To overcome.
6. (vulgar, slang) To perform cunnilingus.
7. (colloquial) To do anything partially.
8. (of flame, waves etc.) To lap.
   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter XI

     Now, in this decadent age the art of fire-making had been altogether forgotten on the earth. The red tongues that went licking up my heap of wood were an altogether new and strange thing to Weena.

Translations

Derived terms

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English liken, from Old English l?cian, from Proto-West Germanic *l?k?n.

Verb

lick

1. like

References

• Jacob Poole (1867) , William Barnes, editor, A glossary, with some pieces of verse, of the old dialect of the English colony in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, J. Russell Smith, ?ISBN