Rye

Rye

Noun · /raɪ/ · a cereal grain and the bread or whisky made from it

Definition

Rye is a hardy cereal grain — the plant Secale cereale — grown extensively in northern and eastern Europe, Russia, and North America. As a noun it covers the grain itself, the grass-like plant it grows on, and the food and drink products derived from it: rye bread, rye flour, rye whisky, and rye-based fermented beverages. Rye bread is notably denser and more bitter than wheat bread because rye contains less gluten. In American English, rye on its own commonly means rye whisky — a glass of rye is a glass of whisky.

Origin

From Old English ryge, from Proto-Germanic *rugiz, related to Old Norse rugr and Dutch rogge. Rye has been cultivated in Europe since before 400 BCE and spread westward from what is now modern Turkey and the Black Sea region. For centuries it was the bread grain of the poor across northern Europe — wheat was expensive and rye could grow in cold, thin soils that wheat could not survive.