orgeat

noun

or·​geat ˈȯr-ˌzhä(t) 

: a sweet almond-flavored nonalcoholic syrup used as a cocktail ingredient or food flavoring

Examples of orgeat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The cocktail combines a base of Angel’s Envy Bourbon with orgeat almond syrup, Disaronno Amaretto, and Pernod Absinthe. —David Thomas Tao, Forbes, 4 Dec. 2024

Sit among the creepy and macabre Halloween decor while sipping on themed cocktails, such as the Sirens Song featuring rum, rye, pineapple, orgeat, sherry and lime. —Samantha Nelson, Chicago Tribune, 23 Oct. 2024

Wicked Watcher At 36 Below in Phoenix, The Wicked Watcher is a bold and spooky cocktail, combining the sweetness of pomegranate with the floral notes of gin, as well as sweetness via orgeat syrup, and the slight bitterness of tonic. —Aly Walansky, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2024

At Someday, oysters and a spritz or a Tiger Porch cocktail — made with tequila, tamarind, jasmine tea and orgeat syrup — marks the perfect end to the night. —Meira Gebel, Axios, 10 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, going back to Middle French, "syrup made from a decoction of barley," probably borrowed from an Old Occitan predecessor of Occitan ordiat, orjat "orgeat," from Old Occitan ordi, orge "barley" (going back to Latin hordeum) + -at -ate entry 1; Latin hordeum going back to *χorzdei̯om, presumed adjectival derivative from dialectal Indo-European *g^hers-do- or *g^hors-do-, whence also Germanic *gerstōn- "barley," whence Old Saxon & Old High German gersta "barley," Middle Dutch gerste, garste

Note: The hypothetical Old Occitan word is akin to and perhaps modeled on Italian orzata "beverage or infusion made from barley soaked in water, sweet syrup made from germinated barley grains and other ingredients, orgeat"; see note at horchata. — Attempts have been made to link *g^hers-do-/*g^hors-do- with another group of words: Greek krīthḗ "grain of barley," krīthaí "barley," Homeric krî (originally a root noun *krīt^h?), Albanian drithë "cereal, grain," Armenian gari (genitive garwoy) "barley." No single pre-form can unite these words, however, and they all may be borrowed from a pre-Indo-European substratum; compare Basque gari "wheat," perhaps itself a borrowing. In opposition to this hypothesis, *g^hers-do-/*g^hors-do- have been taken as formed from root extensions of a verbal base *ǵ^hers- "bristle, become stiff" (see horror entry 1), a name suggested by the long awns of barley; compare Old English gorst gorse, taken as a transfer of the same etymon to a thorny plant.

First Known Use

1754, in the meaning defined above