whisky
English

Alternative forms
- whiskey (Ireland, US)
Etymology
Attested since the early 18th century. Variant of usque, abbreviation of usquebaugh (compare obsolete whiskybae). From Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha and Irish uisce beatha (“water of life”). Compare aquavit, from Latin aqua vītae (“water of life”). The name of the light carriage comes from the English verb to whisk.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwɪski/, /ˈʍɪski/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪski
- Hyphenation: whis‧ky
Noun
whisky (countable and uncountable, plural whiskies)
- (chiefly UK and Canada) An alcoholic liquor distilled from fermented grain and usually aged in oak barrels.
- (chiefly UK and Canada) A drink of this liquor.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- That the young Mr. Churchills liked—but they did not like him coming round of an evening and drinking weak whisky-and-water while he held forth on railway debentures and corporation loans. Mr. Barrett, however, by fawning and flattery, seemed to be able to make not only Mrs. Churchill but everyone else do what he desired.
-
- (historical) A light gig or carriage.
- Synonym: tim-whiskey
- 1768, Ignatius Sancho, letter to Mr. M—, in Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, London: J. Nichols, 3rd edition, 1784, pp. 7-8,
- Look into old age, you will see avarice joined to poverty—letchery, gout, impotency, like three monkeys, or London bucks, in a one-horse whisky, driving to the Devil.
- 1772, George Alexander Stevens, “The Portrait” in Songs, Comic, and Satyrical, Oxford: for the author, p. 202,
- Ye Ladies of Lapland who beesoms bestride,
- Or, pair’d in Witch Whiskeys, aslant the Moon slide;
- 1797, Charlotte Lennox, The History of Sir George Warrington, London: J. Bell, Volume 1, Chapter 4, p. 46,
- At the appointed time Mr. Kettering’s one-horse chaise, or rather whisky, drove up to the door; for, as it was principally intended for him to visit his patients, when disinclined to mount his horse, it was built in the lightest manner, and without a head, that it might move with the greater expedition.
Usage notes
The regional spellings whisky and whiskey are also used worldwide to distinguish regional drinks, for example Scotch whisky, but Irish whiskey and bourbon whiskey.
Derived terms
Translations
Catalan
Czech
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈvɪskɪ]
- Hyphenation: whi‧s‧ky
Declension
- Indeclinable.
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʋɪski/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: whis‧ky
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /wis.ki/
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “whisky”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Greenlandic
Further reading
- whisky in Katersat
Hungarian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈviski] (phonetic respelling: viszki)
- Hyphenation: whis‧ky
- Rhymes: -ki
Declension
Inflection of whisky | ||
---|---|---|
singular | plural | |
nominative | whisky | whiskyk |
accusative | whiskyt | whiskyket |
dative | whiskynek | whiskyknek |
instrumental | whiskyvel | whiskykkel |
causal-final | whiskyért | whiskykért |
translative | whiskyvé | whiskykké |
terminative | whiskyig | whiskykig |
essive-formal | whiskyként | whiskykként |
essive-modal | — | — |
inessive | whiskyben | whiskykben |
superessive | whiskyn | whiskyken |
adessive | whiskynél | whiskyknél |
illative | whiskybe | whiskykbe |
sublative | whiskyre | whiskykre |
allative | whiskyhez | whiskykhez |
elative | whiskyből | whiskykből |
delative | whiskyről | whiskykről |
ablative | whiskytől | whiskyktől |
non-attributive possessive - singular |
whiskyé | whiskyké |
non-attributive possessive - plural |
whiskyéi | whiskykéi |
Possessive forms of whisky | ||
---|---|---|
possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
1st person sing. | whiskym | whiskyjeim |
2nd person sing. | whiskyd | whiskyjeid |
3rd person sing. | whiskyje | whiskyjei |
1st person plural | whiskynk | whiskyjeink |
2nd person plural | whiskytek | whiskyjeitek |
3rd person plural | whiskyjük | whiskyjeik |
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwi.ski/, /uˈi.ski/[1]
- Rhymes: -iski
- Hyphenation: whì‧sky
Etymology 1
Unadapted borrowing from English whisky, alternative form of usque, shortening of usquebaugh, from Irish uisce beatha (literally “water of life”) and Scottish Gaelic uisge beatha (literally “water of life”).
Further reading
- whisky1 in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Further reading
- whisky2 in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
References
- whisky in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
Norman
Norwegian Bokmål
References
- “whisky” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
References
- “whisky” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Polish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English whisky, from Irish uisce beatha, Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha, from Proto-Celtic *udenskyos + *biwotos, from *biwos, a calque of Latin aqua vitae.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwɨs.ki/, /ˈwis.ki/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɨski
- Syllabification: whis‧ky
Portuguese
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /uˈis.ki/ [ʊˈis.ki], (faster pronunciation) /ˈwis.ki/
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /uˈiʃ.ki/ [ʊˈiʃ.ki], (faster pronunciation) /ˈwiʃ.ki/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /uˈis.ke/ [ʊˈis.ke], (faster pronunciation) /ˈwis.ke/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈwiʃ.ki/
- Homophone: uísque (Brazil)
- Hyphenation: whis‧ky
Romanian
Alternative forms
- uischi
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwi.ski/, /ˈuj.ski/
Declension
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) whisky | whisky-ul | (niște) whisky-uri | whisky-urile |
genitive/dative | (unui) whisky | whisky-ului | (unor) whisky-uri | whisky-urilor |
vocative | whisky-ule | whisky-urilor |
Slovak
Etymology
Borrowed from English whisky, from Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha and Irish uisce beatha (“water of life”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈviski]
Derived terms
- whiskový
Further reading
- whisky in Slovak dictionaries at slovnik.juls.savba.sk
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwiski/ [ˈwis.ki]
Audio (Colombia) (file) - Rhymes: -iski
- Syllabification: whis‧ky
Further reading
- “whisky”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
whisky on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia es