absinthe

noun

ab·​sinthe ˈab-(ˌ)sin(t)th 

variants or less commonly absinth

1

: wormwood sense 1

2

: a green or sometimes colorless distilled liquor with high alcoholic content that is flavored with wormwood, anise, and other aromatic herbs (such as fennel)

also : a similar liquor that is made without wormwood

Did you know?

In 1797, Swiss Henri-Louis Pernod was the first to commercially produce an alcoholic drink from the bitter herb Artemisia absinthium, known commonly as wormwood. By the mid-to-late 1800s this bright green distillation, by then known in both French and English as "absinthe," had become wildly popular, especially among artists and writers, but it also had a reputation for making people a little wild. In fact, it was linked to several nasty disorders, including convulsions and foaming at the mouth. The accused culprit? A toxin in wormwood - perhaps the very chemical that gives the plant its tapeworm-exterminating properties (and thus its name). Because of these reported side effects of wormwood, true absinthe was banned in many countries (including the U.S.) in the early 1900s, but that didn't remove the taste for the drink. Wormwood’s name was later cleared (the real culprit turned out to be the drink’s high alcohol content) and the absinthe ban was lifted in the U.S. in 2007.

Examples of absinthe in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

True, getting rid of just a spoonful of absinthe isn’t a huge reinvention, but that lack of the spirit’s strong flavors lets the marschino really shine in the Fancy Free. —Jeremy Repanich, Robb Report, 11 Mar. 2025

If bottles of fake pre-ban absinthe can be produced (perhaps by adding oak chips to modern absinthe and microwaving it) and then used to fill old bottles sourced via internet sales, the potential for unscrupulous profits is huge. —Tom Mullen, Forbes, 3 Nov. 2024

Rye whiskey is the drier and spicier cousin of bourbon with an herbaceous edge, an edge which (as with the Sazerac, La Louisiane and others) is given a few dozen exclamation points with a dash of absinthe. —Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 8 Feb. 2025

Rinse a Nick and Nora glass with a whisper of absinthe. —Scott Hocker, theweek, 27 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English absinthe, borrowed from Latin absinthium, apsinthium "wormwood, infusion of wormwood," borrowed from Latin absinthium, apsinthium, borrowed from Greek apsínthion, of pre-Greek substratal origin; (sense 2) borrowed from French absinthe, going back to Middle French, "wormwood," borrowed from Latin absinthium

First Known Use

1612, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Medical Definition

absinthe

noun

ab·​sinthe

variants also absinth

ˈab-(ˌ)sin(t)th 

1

: wormwood

2

: a green liqueur flavored with wormwood or a substitute, anise, and other aromatics