ginger
noun · verb · adjective · adverb
Form of ginge , comparative of ginge.
Simple meaning
The pungent aromatic rhizome of a tropical Asian herb, Zingiber officinale, used as a spice and as a stimulant and acarminative.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
jinjerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdʒɪndʒɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The pungent aromatic rhizome of a tropical Asian herb, Zingiber officinale, used as a spice and as a stimulant and acarminative.
Pungent rhizome of the common ginger plant; used fresh as a seasoning especially in Asian cookery
The plant that produces this rhizome.
A reddish-brown color.
(colloquial, Scotland, especially Glasgow, countable and uncountable) Any fizzy soft drink, or can or bottle of such; pop; soda.
colloquialcountable and uncountable
Ginger ale, or can or bottle of such (especially if dry).
verb
idiomatictransitive
To enliven, to spice (up).
To move gingerly, in a very careful and cautious manner.
Add ginger to in order to add flavor
adjective
of hair or fur
Of a reddish-brown color.
Having hair or fur of this color.
adverb
In a very careful or cautious manner; also, delicately, sensitively.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The pungent aromatic rhizome of a tropical Asian herb, Zingiber officinale, used as a spice and as a stimulant and acarminative.
Used this way, ginger is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- gingerroot , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use ginger
- “I added fresh ginger to the stir-fry for extra flavor.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Ginger-flavored carbonated drink.
Carbonated slightly alcoholic drink flavored with fermented ginger.
A family of tropical monocotyledonous plants of order Musales.
A crisp round cookie flavored with ginger.
Ginger-flavored carbonated drink.
A crisp round cookie flavored with ginger.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Cake flavored with ginger.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: pungent aromatic rhizome of a tropical Asian herb
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.