rice
/ɹaɪs/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms rices ricing riced rise Wrice
- noun (uncountable) Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.
- noun (countable) A specific variety of this plant.
- noun (uncountable) The seeds of this plant used as food.
- noun The seeds of wild rice, used as food.
- noun (uncountable, slang, ethnic slur, humorous) The types of automobile modifications characteristic of a rice burner.
- noun (computing, slang) An instance of customization of a user interface. “This is my first rice!”
- verb (transitive) To squeeze through a ricer; to mash or make into rice-sized pieces (especially potatoes).
- verb (intransitive) To harvest wild rice (Zizania spp.)
- verb (rare) To throw rice at a person (usually at a wedding).
- verb (computing, transitive) To customize the user interface of a computer system, e.g. a desktop environment. (derived from rice out)
- noun (now chiefly, dialectal, Scotland, Ireland) A twig or stick.
- noun (weaving, obsolete) A bobbin or spool.
- proper noun A surname from Welsh [in turn originating as a patronymic].
- proper noun A former town in the Rice Valley, San Bernardino County, California.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Cloud County, Kansas.
- proper noun A city in Benton County, Minnesota.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Putnam County, Ohio.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Wasco County, Oregon, named after Horace Rice.
- proper noun A minor city in Navarro County, Texas, named after William Marsh Rice.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Prince Edward County, Virginia.
Synonyms
Sir Tim Rice Timothy Miles Bindon Rice Elmer Rice Elmer Leopold Rice Elmer Reizenstein
Etymology
From Middle English rys, from Old French ris, from Old Italian riso, risi, from Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza), from an Eastern Iranian language related to Middle Persian blnc (*brinǰ), Northern Kurdish riz (beyond Euphrates) and Zazaki riz. Theorized to have come to Iranian languages from Sanskrit व्रीहि (vrīhi).
Prior to Sanskrit, it is speculated to be possibly a borrowing from a Dravidian language (compare Proto-Dravidian *wariñci (“rice”)), or from Austroasiatic languages further east.
Alternatively Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza) is said to be from Hebrew אורז (órez), from South Arabian areez ultimately from Old Tamil 𑀅𑀭𑀺𑀘𑀺 (arici).
From Middle English ris, rys, from Old English hrīs (“branch; twig”), from Proto-Germanic *hrīsą (“bush; twig”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreys- (“to turn; bend; wind; move; shake”). Cognate with Scots reise, rice (“twigs; brushwood”), West Frisian riis, rys, Dutch rijs (“little branch; twig; osier; whip”), German Low German Ries, German Reis (“twig; sprig; shoot”), Swedish ris (“twigs; brush; rod”), Icelandic hrís.
* As a Welsh surname, borrowed from Welsh Rhys, an Anglicization. Compare Reese, Freese, Price, and Preece.
* As an English surname, from Old English hris (“brushwood, shrubbery”).
* Also as an English surname, from a nickname through Middle English and Anglo-Norman from French ris (“smile, laughter”).
* Also as an occupational English surname, from the noun rice.
* As as German surname, Americanized from Reis (“shoot, twig”), related to the Old English word above. Compare Ries.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A well-known cereal grass (Oryza sativa) and its seed. This plant is extensively cultivated in warm climates, and the grain forms a large portion of the food of the inhabitants. In America it grows chiefly on low, moist land, which can be overflowed. Ant rice. (Bot.) See under Ant.
Etymology [F. riz (cf. Pr. ris, It. riso), L. oryza, Gr. brizi, akin to Skr. vrihi; or perh. akin to E. rye. Cf. Rye.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “rice”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details