Sarsaparilla
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any of various tropical (Central and South) American vines of the genus Smilax, such as Smilax aspera, which have fragrant roots. countable, uncountable
- 2 carbonated drink flavored with an extract from sarsaparilla root or with birch oil and sassafras wordnet
- 3 Dried roots of these plants, or a flavoring material extracted from these roots. countable, uncountable
- 4 any of various prickly climbing plants of the tropical American genus Smilax having aromatic roots and heart-shaped leaves wordnet
- 5 A beverage (soft drink) flavored with this root, such as root beer. countable, uncountable
"“[…]If Cassidy goes around shooting their fingers off, how are they going to lift their sarsaparilla?” “Rustlers don't drink sarsaparilla,” came the reply, ending the conversation and throwing me back inside my twenty-yard line."
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- 6 Any of several North American plants, of the genus Aralia, having umbels and small white flowers. countable, uncountable
- 7 An American vine of species Nephroia diversifolia. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"Enrico is drinking a glass of sarsaparilla."
Etymology
From Spanish zarzaparrilla. The first element may ultimately derive from Basque; see Spanish zarza (“blackberry bush”) for more. The usual pronunciation of the first part of the word as /sæsp-/ or /sɑːsp-/ may be due to dissimilatory loss of the first of two r sounds (compare governor /ˈɡʌvənɚ/ and February /ˈfɛb.juˌɛɹi/). Occasionally this word is pronounced with a schwa between the s and the p, or without a schwa between the p and the r.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.