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ar·ak

(ărək, ə-răk)

1. Any of various alcoholic liquors of the Middle East, distilled from grapes, raisins, or dates and flavored with anise.

2. See arrack.

[Arabic, short for 'araq al-tamr, literally, sweat of the date (the liquor having originally been distilled from date wine) : 'araq, sweat (from 'ariqa, to sweat; see ʿrq² in Semitic roots) + al-, the + tamr, date.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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