rice
Pluralrices (some meanings)
Pluralrices (some meanings)
- 1The small grains of the rice plant (chiefly Oryza sativa), cooked and eaten as a staple food in much of the world.
In many countries, rice forms the base of nearly every meal.
He rinsed the rice twice before adding it to the boiling water.
UsageTreated as a mass: some rice, a bowl of rice, a grain of rice (not
incorrect: rices). - 2A cereal plant of the grass family grown for its edible seeds, chiefly Asian rice (Oryza sativa) and, less widely, African rice (Oryza glaberrima).
Across much of Asia, farmers plant rice in flooded paddies when the monsoon rains arrive.
Rice thrives in warm, wet climates where water is abundant.
Note
The Naturalist, a journal Daniel Jay Browne edited, could say in 1831 that Carolina and Georgia grew the finest rice in the world, ahead of any shipped to Europe from the Indies.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The statement that Carolina and Georgia grew the finest rice appeared in 1831. en.wiktionary.org
- The statement praised rice grown in Carolina and Georgia as the finest in the world. en.wiktionary.org
- 3To break food into small pieces about the size of rice grains, especially by pressing boiled potatoes through a ricer or by grating or finely chopping vegetables such as cauliflower.
He riced the warm potatoes into a light, fluffy mound.
Many chefs rice hard-boiled egg yolks to garnish salads.
UsageThe past participle often works as an adjective: riced potato, riced cauliflower.
Note
A kitchen verb named for the rice-sized shreds it produces; the tool built for the job, the ricer, is named from the same word. Maria Parloa, in Miss Parloa's New Cook Book, does it by rubbing mashed potato through a hot colander. In industrial potato processing, ricing names the step before the mash goes to the drum drier for flaking.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- The culinary verb refers to making food into pieces resembling rice grains in size; this supports the stated naming explanation. en.wiktionary.org
- The utensil name ricer derives from rice. en.wiktionary.org
- Maria Parloa wrote Miss Parloa's New Cook Book. gutenberg.org
- Parloa's riced-potato recipe instructs readers to rub mashed potato through a hot colander. gutenberg.org
- Industrial potato-flake production includes ricing before drum drying. patents.google.com
- 4One kind of rice, as a plant or as grain, told apart from other kinds by features like grain length, stickiness, color, or scent.
Arborio, a plump Italian rice, is what gives a good risotto its creamy texture.
Farmers in the valley still grow several heirloom rices, including a red one with a nutty flavor.
Note
The countable use of a usually uncountable word: it takes an article and a plural, so a menu can offer a long-grain rice or three rices. Rice as food normally takes neither an indefinite article nor a plural. The plural here means kinds, not grains, and a single grain stays a grain of rice. Say several rices in this sense only when the varieties themselves matter, as with Basmati beside Arborio.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Uncountable rice can take the definite article, as in the rice; it normally takes neither an indefinite article nor a plural. libraryguides.mdc.edu
- Rices can also refer informally to portions in restaurant ordering. Baron's meal for two includes two rices. baron84.co.uk
Less common meanings
- 5To throw grains of rice at a person, usually as part of the celebrations at a wedding.
The couple was well riced and sent on their way.
2002, Helen Argers, The Gilded LilySo far as I can make out, the idiotic function of “ricing” English brides and bridegrooms is not twenty years old.
1886, “Echoes of the Week”, in The Illustrated London NewsNote
This verb is mostly heard in the passive, with the couple on the receiving end: the newlyweds were riced, well riced, even riced to death. The custom and the word were already drawing complaints in The Illustrated London News in 1886, whose columnist said the "idiotic function" of ricing English brides and bridegrooms had begun less than twenty years earlier. The verb is still rare.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The Illustrated London News complained about wedding ricing in 1886; its columnist called it an "idiotic function" and said the English custom was less than twenty years old. Wiktionary identifies the source as "Echoes of the Week", 24 July 1886, volume 89, page 90. en.wiktionary.org
- 6Flashy cosmetic modifications added to a car (large spoilers, loud paint, oversized exhausts) that suggest high performance without delivering it.
Like a costume that looks the part without the skills underneath.
The hatchback was dripping with rice: an enormous spoiler, neon trim, and a fake hood scoop.
Critics dismissed the build as all rice and no horsepower.
Note
Car-culture slang with a sting in it. The word is clipped from rice burner, and it carries that phrase's ethnic slur along with its joke.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Rice burner has ethnic-slur associations. en.wikipedia.org
- 7A light, often collapsible, revolving reel, also called a swift, that holds a skein or hank of yarn while it is wound off.
Swift (rice) Skein holder, hank holder.
1977, Marianne Straub, Hand weaving and cloth designThe hanks are placed upon light, collapsible hexagon reels termed rices, which are easily lifted out of their position for the reception of the hank.
1895, Richard Marsden, Cotton Weaving: Its DevelopmentNote
Weaving gave the twig word a second life as a winding tool. It shares its Old English root with the dialect word for a twig. Old Middlesex court records list a stolen "pair of Rices to wind silke on." Richard Marsden's Cotton Weaving (1895) describes rices as collapsible hexagon reels for hanks. By Marianne Straub's 1977 handbook, rice is only a gloss on swift, the word weavers use instead.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The weaving term and the dialect word for a twig share the Old English ancestor hrīs. en.wiktionary.org
- Middlesex court records mention an unlawfully taken pair of rices using the quoted wording. upload.wikimedia.org
- Richard Marsden wrote Cotton Weaving, published in 1895. archive.org
- Marsden describes rices as collapsible hexagon reels holding hanks. archive.org
- 8To harvest the grain of wild rice (Zizania), typically from a canoe in shallow lakes and marshes.
- 9To extensively customize the appearance and behavior of a computer's user interface, especially a desktop environment.
- 10A particular customized configuration of a computer's user interface, especially the look of a desktop environment.
- 11A twig or thin stick; also, twigs and small branches collectively, cut as brushwood for hedges and fences.
Another form of dead-hedge is the stake-and-rice, and it is formed of the branches of forest trees; and where these are plentiful and thorns scarce, it is an economical dead fence.
1851, Henry Stephens, The Book of the Farm
Showing meanings only.
More uses
- cauliflower ricevegetables chopped into tiny pieces like rice
Practice
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Origins
Rice and arroz are doublets. The English word comes from Middle English rys, which was borrowed from Old French ris. Behind that stand Old Italian riso, Latin oryza, and Ancient Greek ὄρυζα (óruza), which Greek took from an Eastern Iranian language. One theory holds that the Iranian word came from Sanskrit व्रीहि (vrīhi), which may in turn have been borrowed from a Dravidian language or from Austroasiatic languages farther east. Another account traces the Greek word to Hebrew אורז (órez), and ultimately to Old Tamil.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 9 facts
- Rice and arroz are doublets. en.wiktionary.org
- English rice comes from Middle English rys. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English rys was borrowed from Old French ris. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French ris derives from Old Italian riso. en.wiktionary.org
- Italian riso derives through Latin oryza from Ancient Greek ὄρυζα. en.wiktionary.org
- Greek borrowed the word from an Eastern Iranian language. en.wiktionary.org
- One theory derives the Iranian word from Sanskrit व्रीहि (vrīhi). en.wiktionary.org
- The Sanskrit word has proposed Dravidian or Austroasiatic origins. en.wiktionary.org
- An alternative account traces the Greek word through Hebrew to Old Tamil. en.wikipedia.org
Old English hrīs ("branch, twig") became Middle English ris. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *hrīsą ("bush, twig") and to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to turn or bend." Related words include Dutch rijs, German Reis ("twig, sprig"), and Swedish ris ("twigs, brush").
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Old English hrīs meant branch or twig and developed into Middle English ris. en.wiktionary.org
- The word descends from Proto-Germanic *hrīsą, meaning bush or twig, and ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning to turn or bend. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch rijs is related through the same Proto-Germanic ancestor. en.wiktionary.org
- German Reis is related and means twig or sprig. en.wiktionary.org
- Swedish ris is related and means twigs or brush. en.wiktionary.org