rice

Meanings

Noun

• Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.
• A specific variety of this plant.
• The seeds of this plant used as food.
• The types of automobile modifications characteristic of a rice burner.
• A twig or stick.
• A bobbin or spool.

Verb

• To squeeze through a ricer; to mash or make into rice-sized pieces (especially potato).
• To harvest wild rice (Zizania sp.)
• To throw rice at a person (usually at a wedding).
• To customize the user interface of a computer system, e.g. a desktop environment.

Origin

• From Middle English rys, from Old French ris, from Old Italian riso, risi, from Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα, from an Eastern Iranian language related to Middle Persian blnj. Theorized to come to Iranian languages from Sanskrit व्रीहि.
• Prior to Sanskrit, it is speculated to be either a borrowing from a language (compare Proto-Dravidian *wariñci ("rice")), or from languages further east.
• 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, 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.