sorrel

Etymology 1

From Middle English sorel, from Old French sorel, surele (“sorrel”), from Old French sur (“sour”), of Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sūraz (“sour”); equivalent to sour + -el (diminutive suffix). Compare Old English sūre (“sorrel”), Icelandic súra (“sorrel”), Dutch zuring (“dock (plant), sorrel”). More at sour.

noun

1. Any of various plants with acidic leaves, especially
   1. Rumex acetosa (common sorrel, garden sorrel), sometimes used as a salad vegetable.
   2. Members of genus Oxalis or family Oxalidaceae, woodsorrels.
   3. The roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa.
2. A drink, consumed especially in the Caribbean around Christmas, made from the flowers of Hibiscus sabdariffa: hibiscus tea.
   Now, many people drink alcohol, but when I was a child I remember drinking sorrel, ginger beer and drinks made from fresh fruits such as soursop and passion-fruit. Sorrel was prepared over a long period, not as quickly as it is now. 2007, African and Caribbean Celebrations, page 56
   For instance, one day we were sitting on the porch, looking down at the lagoon and the yachts from all over the world. He was drinking ginger beer mixed with rum, and I was drinking sorrel. No rum. Out of nowhere, he proposed. 2009, C. C. Alick, Dancing with the Yumawalli: Inspired by True Events, page 62
   Joy and the parents did not go either; we spent a quiet day at home, eating roast chicken and stuffing with our own green-gungu rice and peas, and drinking sorrel. 2012, Claudette Beckford-Brady, Sweet Home, Jamaica, page 390

Etymology 2

From Middle English *sorel, from Middle French *sorel, sorrel, surrel, from Middle French sor (“yellowish-brown, reddish-brown”), probably from Old Frankish *saur (“dried”), from Proto-Germanic *sauzaz (“dry”), from Proto-Indo-European *saus- (“dry, parched”); equivalent to sore (“reddish-brown”) + -el (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch soor (“dry”), Old High German sōrēn (“to become dry”), and Old English sēar (“withered, barren”). See also sere.

noun

1. A brown colour, with a tint of red.
   sorrel:

adj

1. Of a brown colour, with a tint of red. (especially: a sorrel horse)