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Glite Dictionary
aniseed

aniseed

1 6.5
A small brown seed with a sweet licorice taste used to flavor food and drinks
  • noun
  • /ˈænɪˌsid/
translation icon : anís
  • When baking cookies, I often add aniseed for extra flavor.
  • tastes like aniseed

And this guy was eating aniseed balls.

Examples

  • Some people can eat aniseed and keep a smile on their face.

    Blog text (15)

  • Add aniseed and holy basil to it.

    Blog text (16)

  • All right, Next up is the chilled cucumber soup with aniseed topped with goat cheese.

  • Strain, add the lemon peel or aniseeds and the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

    Academic text (1994)

  • The recipe calls for aniseed to enhance the dish's aroma.

  • For a herbal tea, you can steep aniseed along with other spices.

Synonyms

anise seed
vsaniseed
1 4.5

A small seed with a sweet licorice taste that people use to flavor food and drinks

is the single-word form used for the same seed

Compounds

aniseed oil
6.1

A strong oil used to flavor food that tastes like licorice

star aniseed
5.1

A spice shaped like a star with a sweet licorice smell used in Asian cooking and traditional medicine

How Strong

star anise
1 4.3
aniseed
1 6.5
fennel seed
2 3.6

Surface Forms

aniseed singular
aniseeds plural

Morphology

aniseed = anise + seed (transparent) = anise + seed

A straightforward compound of 'anise' + 'seed' whose meaning is literally the seeds of the anise plant, so learners who know the components can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Aniseed comes from the spice name anise and the word seed. The name anise goes back to old Greek and Latin words for the same plant, and because the seeds taste sweet like 'licorice' and are used in cooking and drinks, aniseed simply means the 'seed' of the anise plant.