Tisane
WordNet
noun
(1) Infusion of e.g. dried or fresh flowers or leaves
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From Old French ptisane, tisane, from Greek πτισανη ‘peeled barley, barley-water’.
Noun
- A medicinal drink made from barley soaked in water
- Any infusion or drink, especially medicinal or curative, made by steeping in hot water; a herbal tea
- 1831, Alexander Macaulay, A dictionary of medicine, designed for popular use, 2nd edition, page 454:
- Ptisan. A diluent drink which makes a great figure in the dietetic precepts of the ancients. Ptisan strictly signifies an extract, and was originally applied to barley which was boiled till it began to swell, then was dried in the sun, bruised, cleared of the husks, and again bruised. A decoction was made of this prepared barley, and used as a drink in severish disorders. Other drinks of a similar kind were called ptisans, though not made of barley; and Horace tells his rich miser that he requires a ptisan of rice, ptisanarium oryzæ. The term is not much used by medical men in this country. In France it seems to be a general name for diluent drinks.
- 1993, Will Self, My Idea of Fun:
- As soon as he had opened the door he worked his way back to his high-backed Queen Anne armchair, where he picked up his bone-china cup and took a sip of a rarefied tisane.
- 1831, Alexander Macaulay, A dictionary of medicine, designed for popular use, 2nd edition, page 454:
Etymology
Latin tisana, ptisana, from Greek πτισανη ‘peeled barley, barley-water’, related to πτισσειν ‘peel’.