chicory

Meaning

Noun

• Either of two plants of the Asteraceae family.
• A coffee substitute made from the roasted roots of the common chicory, sometimes used as a cheap adulterant in real coffee.

Origin

• From Late Middle English cicoree, cicory, cicorea, sicory, sycory, from Old French cicoree (modern French chicorée), or directly from its etymon Medieval Latin cicorea, cichorea, *cichōria, from Latin cichorium, cichoreum, from Ancient Greek κίχορα, κιχόρεια, neuter plural of κιχώριον. The English word is cognate with Italian cicórea, and is a succory.