Where does “spice” come from?

Spice comes from Middle English spice, from Old French espice, from Latin species meaning appearance or kind, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European speḱ- meaning to observe or look.

spice (English): Aromatic or pungent plant matter used to season...

Definitions

  1. Aromatic or pungent plant matter used to season...

Ancestry of “spice”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishspicespices; A variety, sort, or kind of something; A...
2Old Frenchespicespice
3Late Latinspeciesspice, good, ware; a seeing, view, look; a...
4Classical Latinspeciēs

Words derived from “spice

Every word from Classical Latin speciēs