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whiskey

1. Alternative letter-case form of Whiskey of the ICAO/NATO radiotelephony alphabet.

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• IPA^(key): /ˈwɪski/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

  • Audio (Midwestern US):

    (file)

  • Audio (Connecticut):

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• (without the wine–whine merger) IPA^(key): /ˈʍɪski/
• Rhymes: -ɪski
• Hyphenation: whis‧key

Variant of usque, abbreviation of usquebaugh, from Irish uisce beatha, calque of Medieval Latin aqua vītae (“water of life”). Compare akvavit, aquavit, aqua vitae, eau de vie, and water of life from the same source and vodka from a Russian diminutive for water in reference to the dilution of pure grain spirits.

• whisky (Scotland, Canada, Australia)

whiskey (countable and uncountable, plural whiskeys or whiskies)

1. (Ireland, US, England) A liquor distilled from the fermented mash of grain (as rye, corn, or barley).

   Synonyms: (chiefly Ireland, Scotland, dated or archaic) usquebaugh, (dated) scamper juice

   • 1753 September, “Historical Chronicle”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, volume XXIII, number VIII, London, page 391:

     The exceſſive drinking of ſpirituous liquours, eſpecially whiſkey, is now become ſo common, that more people are killed by them, than by ſmall-pox, fevers, broken limbs, accidents, and all other diſtempers put together. And we are credibly informed, that in one dram ſhop only in this town, there are 120 gallons of that accurſed ſpirit, whiſkey, ſold.

2. (Ireland, US, England) A drink of whiskey.
3. (international standards) Alternative letter-case form of Whiskey from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.

• The regional spellings whiskey and whisky (from the Scottish Gaelic form of the same Gaelic word) are used world-wide to distinguish regional drinks, for example bourbon whiskey but Scotch whisky.

• → Jersey Dutch: wäski
• → Punjabi: ਵਿਸਕੀ (viskī)
• → Unami: wëshki
• → Welsh: chwisgi

From whisk +‎ -ey.

• whisky

whiskey (plural whiskeys)

1. (historical) A light gig or carriage drawn by one horse.

   Synonym: tim-whiskey

   • 1772, George Alexander Stevens, “The Portrait”, in Songs, Comic, and Satyrical‎^[1], Oxford, page 202:

     Ye Ladies of Lapland who beesoms bestride,
     Or, pair’d in Witch Whiskeys, aslant the Moon slide;

Borrowed from English whiskey.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋɪski/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: whis‧key

whiskey m (plural whiskeys, diminutive whiskeytje n)

1. (a glass of) whiskey

• whisky

Borrowed from English whisky, whiskey, from Irish uisce beatha, Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha (literally “water of life”).

• IPA^(key): /wis.ki/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

whiskey m (plural whiskeys)

1. whiskey (drink)

• “whiskey”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

whiskey m (plural whiskeys)

1. alternative form of uísque

• “whiskey”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Unadapted borrowing from English whiskey.

• IPA^(key): /ˈw̝iski/ [ˈw̝is.ki]
• Rhymes: -iski
• Syllabification: whis‧key

whiskey m (plural whiskeys or whiskies)

1. alternative spelling of whisky

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “whiskey”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “whiskey”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA

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