liqueur

See also liquor

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From French liqueur.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /lɪˈkjʊə/, /lɪˈkjɔː/

Noun

liqueur (plural liqueurs)

1. A flavored alcoholic beverage that is usually very sweet and contains a high percentage of alcohol. Cordials are a type of liqueur manufactured using the infusion process as opposed to the essence and distillation processes.

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to liqueur

liquid liquidate

liquidation liquidator

liquidity liquidizer liquor

Translations

a flavored alcoholic beverage

Bulgarian: ликьор (likjór) m. Chinese: 利口酒 (lì kǒu jiǔ) Croatian: liker (hr) m. Czech: likér (cs) m. Estonian: liköör (et) Finnish: likööri (fi) French: liqueur (fr) f., ratafia (fr) f. German: Likör (de) m. Greek: ηδύποτο (iðípoto) n., λικέρ (licér) n.

Hungarian: likőr (hu) Irish: licéar (ga) m. Italian: liquore (it) m. Japanese: リキュール (ja) (rikyūru) Polish: likier (pl) m. Russian: ликёр (ru) m. Spanish: licor (es) m. Swedish: likör (sv) c.

See also

• cordial
• ratafia

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin liquor.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /likœʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

liqueur f. (plural liqueurs)

1. alcoholic liqueur
2. (literary) drinkable liquid
3. (Quebec) fizzy drink, pop
4. (obsolete) liquid

Usage notes

• Liqueur and liquor are false friends: French liqueur never applies to alcoholic drinks specifically.
• The Quebec use of the term is frequently targeted as an anglicism (from liquor), even though the meaning ("non-alcoholic drink") is older and has little connection to either English terms.