Standard Lemma guide

liqueur

noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /lɪˈkjɔː(ɹ)/ pour–poor merger
  • /lɪˈkjʊə(ɹ)/ without the pour–poor merger
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /lɪˈkɝ/
  • General-American: /lɪˈk(j)ʊɹ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ʊə(ɹ)
  • rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)
  • CMU ARPABET: L IH0 K ER1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A flavored alcoholic beverage that is usually very sweet and contains a high percentage of alcohol.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

to flavor or treat (wine) with a liqueur

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

to top up bottles of sparkling wine with a sugar solution

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Every champagne has to be liqueured after its disgorgement, to replace the inevitable loss.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

strong highly flavored sweet liquor usually drunk after a meal

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cordial

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: alcohol, alcoholic drink, alcoholic beverage, intoxicant, inebriant

Narrower terms: absinth, absinthe, amaretto, anisette, anisette de Bordeaux, benedictine, Chartreuse, coffee liqueur, creme de cacao, creme de menthe, creme de fraise, Drambuie, Galliano, orange liqueur, kummel, maraschino, maraschino liqueur, pastis, Pernod, pousse-cafe, ratafia, ratafee, sambuca

History

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French liqueur. Doublet of liquor.

Across languages

Translations

55 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: liker — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Arabic: لِيكْيُور (likyur) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Armenian: լիկյոր (likyor) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Azerbaijani: likör — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Belarusian: лікёр (likjór) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Bulgarian: ликьо́р (likjór) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Chinese Cantonese: 力嬌酒 /力娇酒 (lik6 giu1 zau2) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Chinese Cantonese: 利口酒 (lei6 hau2 zau2) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Chinese Mandarin: 利口酒 (lìkǒujiǔ) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Czech: likér — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Danish: likør — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Dutch: likeur — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Esperanto: likvoro — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Estonian: liköör — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Finnish: likööri — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • French: liqueur — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • French: ratafia — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Galician: licor — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Georgian: ლიქიორი (likiori) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • German: Likör — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Greek: ηδύποτο (idýpoto) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Greek: λικέρ (likér) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Hebrew: לִיקֶר — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Hungarian: likőr — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Icelandic: líkjör — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Indonesian: likeur — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Irish: licéar — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Italian: liquore — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Japanese: リキュール (rikyūru) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Kazakh: ликёр (liker) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Korean: 리큐어 (rikyueo) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Kyrgyz: ликёр (likyor) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Latvian: liķieris — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Lithuanian: likeris — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Macedonian: ликер (liker) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Norman: litcheu — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Persian: لیکور (likor) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Polish: likier — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Portuguese: licor — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Romanian: lichior — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Russian: ликёр (likjór) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Serbo-Croatian: ликер — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Serbo-Croatian: liker — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Slovak: likér — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Slovene: liker — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Spanish: licor — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Swedish: likör — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Tajik: ликёр (likyor) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Turkish: likör — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Ukrainian: ліке́р (likér) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Uzbek: likyor — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Vietnamese: rượu mùi — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Vilamovian: likȫr — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Yiddish: ליקער (liker) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
  • Yiddish: נאַליווקע (nalivke) — a flavored alcoholic beverage
Real reading context

liqueur in complete knowledge articles