rice

Plural: rices

Noun

grains used as food either unpolished or more often polished
annual or perennial rhizomatous marsh grasses; seed used for food; straw used for paper
English lyricist who frequently worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber (born in 1944)
United States playwright (1892-1967)
Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.
A specific variety of this plant.
The seeds of this plant used as food.
The types of automobile modifications characteristic of a rice burner.
An instance of customization of a user interface.
A twig or stick.
A bobbin or spool.

Verb

Verb Forms: riced, ricing, rices

To press food through a utensil with small holes.
sieve so that it becomes the consistency of rice
- "rice the potatoes"
To squeeze through a ricer; to mash or make into rice-sized pieces (especially potatoes).
To harvest wild rice (Zizania spp.)
To throw rice at a person (usually at a wedding).
To customize the user interface of a computer system, e.g. a desktop environment. (derived from rice out)

Examples

She knew how to rice potatoes, but scrabbling out RICE on a triple-word was harder.
This is my first rice!

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English rys, from Old French ris, from Old Italian riso, risi, from Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza), from an Eastern Iranian language related to Middle Persian blnc (*brinǰ), Northern Kurdish riz (beyond Euphrates) and Zazaki riz. Theorized to come to Iranian languages from Sanskrit व्रीहि (vrīhi).
Prior to Sanskrit, it is speculated to be possibly a borrowing from a Dravidian language (compare Proto-Dravidian *wariñci (“rice”)), or from Austroasiatic languages further east.
Alternatively Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza) is said to be from Hebrew אורז (órez), from South Arabian areez ultimately from Old Tamil 𑀅𑀭𑀺𑀘𑀺 (arici).
Doublet of arroz.

Synonyms

Elmer Leopold Rice, Elmer Reizenstein, Elmer Rice, Sir Tim Rice, Timothy Miles Bindon Rice

Scrabble Score: 6

rice: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
rice: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
rice: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 7

rice: valid Words With Friends Word