What is "sake"

Saki \Sa"ki\ (s[aum]"k[-e]), n. The alcoholic drink of Japan. It is made from rice; it is usually spelled sake.

"Japanese rice liquor," 1680s, from Japanese sake, literally "alcohol."

"purpose," Old English sacu "a cause at law, crime, dispute, guilt," from Proto-Germanic *sako "affair, thing, charge, accusation" (cognates: Old Norse sök "charge, lawsuit, effect, cause," Old Frisian seke "strife, dispute, matter, thing," Dutch zaak "lawsuit, cause, sake, thing," German Sache "thing, matter, affair, cause"), from PIE root *sag- "to investigate, seek out" (cognates: Old English secan, Gothic sokjan "to seek;" see seek).\n

\nMuch of the word's original meaning has been taken over by case (n.1), cause (n.), and it survives largely in phrases for the sake of (early 13c.) and for _______'s sake (c.1300, originally for God's sake), both probably are from Norse, as these forms have not been found in Old English.

Etymology 1 n. 1 cause, interest or account. 2 purpose or end; reason. 3 The benefit or regard of someone or something. Etymology 2

alt. (qualifier: countable and uncountable) Rice wine, a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice. n. (qualifier: countable and uncountable) Rice wine, a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice.

n. Rice wine; a drink made from filtered fermented rice.

1. n. a reason for wanting something done; "for your sake"; "died for the sake of his country"; "in the interest of safety"; "in the common interest" [syn: interest]

2. Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice; usually served hot [syn: saki, rice beer]

3. the purpose of achieving or obtaining; "for the sake of argument"

Sake may refer to:

• Sake, a Japanese alcoholic beverage brewed from rice
  • Sake set, a generic term for the flask and cups used to serve sake
  • Sake bomb, a mixed drink made with sake
  • Wakame sake, a sexual act involving drinking sake from a woman's body in food play
• Japanese word for salmon, as commonly used in sushi and other Japanese dishes
• Sake, Democratic Republic of the Congo, a town in the eastern province of North Kivu
• Sake, Rwanda, a town in Rwanda

, often spelled saké ( or ) in English, is a Japanese rice wine made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Unlike wine, in which alcohol ( ethanol) is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in grapes, sake is produced by a brewing process more like that of beer, where the starch is converted into sugars before being converted to alcohol.

The brewing process for sake differs from the process for beer in that, for beer, the conversion from starch to sugar and from sugar to alcohol occurs in two discrete steps. Like other rice wines, when sake is brewed, these conversions occur simultaneously. Furthermore, the alcohol content differs between sake, wine, and beer. Wine generally contains 9%–16% ABV, while most beer contains 3%–9%, and undiluted sake contains 18%–20% (although this is often lowered to about 15% by diluting with water prior to bottling).

In the Japanese language, the word "sake" (酒, "liquor", also pronounced shu) can refer to any alcoholic drink, while the beverage called "sake" in English is usually termed nihonshu (日本酒, "Japanese liquor"). Under Japanese liquor laws, sake is labelled with the word seishu (清酒, "clear liquor"), a synonym less commonly used in conversation.

In Japan, where it is the national beverage, sake is often served with special ceremony – gently warmed in a small earthenware or porcelain bottle called a tokkuri, and sipped from a small porcelain cup called a sakazuki.