: an Asian alcoholic beverage like rum that is distilled from a fermented mash of malted rice with toddy or molasses
Word History
Etymology
probably borrowed from Indonesian Malay arak, borrowed by uncertain mediation from Arabic ʿaraq, short for ʿaraq al-tamr, literally, "sweat of the date (from which the liquor was originally distilled)"; ʿaraq derivative of ʿariqa "sweat, perspire"