Origin: 1175–1225; (noun) Middle English, aphetic form of Old French espice (French épice) < Latin speciēs appearance, sort, kind (see species), in Late Latin (plural): goods, wares, spices, drugs; (v.) Middle English spicen, in part derivative of the noun, in part < Old French espicer, derivative of espice
Related forms
spice·a·ble, adjective
spice·less, adjective
spice·like, adjective
o·ver·spice, verb, -spiced, -spic·ing.
re·spice, verb (used with object), -spiced, -spic·ing.
early 13c., from O.Fr. espice, from L.L. species (pl.) "spices, goods, wares," from L. "kind, sort" (see species). Early druggists recognized four "types" of spices: saffron, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. Fig. sense of "slight touch or trace of something" is recorded from 1530s.
The verb, "to season with spices" is first recorded early 14c. (implied in spiced). Spicy is from 1560s; in the fig. sense of "racy, salacious" it dates from 1844. Spice-cake first attested 1520s.