sarsaparilla

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: sar=sa=pa=ril=la

CIDE DICTIONARY

sarsaparilla, n. [Sp. zarzaparrilla; zarza a bramble (perhaps fr. Bisc. zartzia) + parra a vine, or Parillo, a physician said to have discovered it.].

 Any plant of several tropical American species of Smilax.  [1913 Webster]
" The name is also applied to many other plants and their roots, especially to the Aralia nudicaulis, the wild sarsaparilla of the United States."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

sarsaparilla, n.
1 a preparation of the dried roots of various plants, esp. smilax, used to flavour some drinks and medicines and formerly as a tonic.
2 any of the plants yielding this.

Etymology

Sp. zarzaparilla f. zarza bramble, prob. + dimin. of parra vine