orgeat

noun

or·​geat ˈȯr-ˌzhä(t) 

: a sweet almond-flavored nonalcoholic syrup used as a cocktail ingredient or food flavoring

Examples of orgeat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

On offer in February: Autumn in New Jersey, with apple brandy, lemon, orgeat and bitters, and the Fairbanks, with rye whiskey, apricot and bitters. —Fritz Hahn, Washington Post, 28 Mar. 2024

Gin: Some orgeats, like Liber & Co., really need an anchor and strongly prefer a gin with a deeper midpalate character like Fords or Bombay Sapphire. —Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 23 Mar. 2024

Meanwhile, mixologist Remy Savage has crafted a cocktail menu that feels like Marais meets Midtown: think Manhattan with a twist of Pernod, or an Upside-Down New York sour with orgeat. —Elise Taylor, Vogue, 8 Feb. 2024

Craft cocktails like the Island Rose, made with grapefruit and rose vodka, orgeat, pineapple, bitters and rose water, delight guests, as do impressive wine and spirit lists. —Terri Peters, Chron, 16 Dec. 2023

Its role here is not only to provide sweetness and almond flavor but also depth, so a real nutty, natural orgeat helps. —Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 22 July 2023

The lovechild of a mai tai and a Negroni, this fruity orgeat and Campari cocktail is a sweet and summery thirst-quencher. —Beth Dixon, Saveur, 13 July 2023

Sure there’s orgeat, but there’s also cream sherry. —Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 24 June 2023

The original recipe for the drink was the most simple (and therefore likely the best), consisting of just rum, fresh lime juice, orange curacao, and orgeat. —Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 25 May 2023

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, going back to Middle French, "syrup made from a decoction of barley," probably borrowed from an Old Occitan predecessor of Occitan ordiat, orjat "orgeat," from Old Occitan ordi, orge "barley" (going back to Latin hordeum) + -at -ate entry 1; Latin hordeum going back to *χorzdei̯om, presumed adjectival derivative from dialectal Indo-European *g^hers-do- or *g^hors-do-, whence also Germanic *gerstōn- "barley," whence Old Saxon & Old High German gersta "barley," Middle Dutch gerste, garste

Note: The hypothetical Old Occitan word is akin to and perhaps modeled on Italian orzata "beverage or infusion made from barley soaked in water, sweet syrup made from germinated barley grains and other ingredients, orgeat"; see note at horchata. — Attempts have been made to link *g^hers-do-/*g^hors-do- with another group of words: Greek krīthḗ "grain of barley," krīthaí "barley," Homeric krî (originally a root noun *krīt^h?), Albanian drithë "cereal, grain," Armenian gari (genitive garwoy) "barley." No single pre-form can unite these words, however, and they all may be borrowed from a pre-Indo-European substratum; compare Basque gari "wheat," perhaps itself a borrowing. In opposition to this hypothesis, *g^hers-do-/*g^hors-do- have been taken as formed from root extensions of a verbal base *ǵ^hers- "bristle, become stiff" (see horror entry 1), a name suggested by the long awns of barley; compare Old English gorst gorse, taken as a transfer of the same etymon to a thorny plant.

First Known Use

1754, in the meaning defined above