sake

Where does the word "sake" come from? It comes from Japanese sake, and was adopted directly into English (1687).

Sake’s story begins in Japanese: sake meant “alcoholic drink, rice wine.” The general word for alcoholic drink, narrowed to mean fermented rice wine. It reached English by 1687 as sake. Engelbert Kaempfer described sake brewing in his account of Japan. Today, sake means a fermented Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice.

1. Stage 1 · Japanese · ancient sake "alcoholic drink, rice wine", the general word for alcoholic drink, narrowed to mean fermented rice wine.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1687 sake "a fermented Japanese rice beverage", Engelbert Kaempfer described sake brewing in his account of Japan.