1 [mass noun] a sweet, chewy, aromatic black substance made by evaporation from the juice of a root and used as a sweet and in medicine
a sweet flavoured with liquorice
2 the widely distributed plant of the pea family from which liquorice is obtainedGenus Glycyrrhiza, family Leguminosae; many species are used locally to obtain liquorice, the chief commercial source being the cultivated G. glabra
Origin Middle English: from Old French licoresse, from late Latin liquiritia, from Greek glukurrhiza, from glukus 'sweet' + rhiza 'root'