What does chicory mean?
Chicory is a hardy perennial plant of the daisy family, known botanically as Cichorium intybus, that bears bright blue flowers and has long been valued both as a food and a flavouring. Its bitter leaves are eaten raw in salads, and various cultivated forms — including radicchio and the pale, tightly wrapped heads sometimes sold as Belgian endive — are all varieties of chicory. Its roots can be roasted, ground, and brewed, either on their own or blended with coffee to lend body and a mildly bitter, nutty taste, a practice especially associated with New Orleans. The word refers both to the plant itself and to these culinary products. Chicory appears frequently in discussions of food, gardening, and regional tradition, and it carries a slightly old-fashioned, rustic charm. Because it names something encountered at the breakfast table and along country roadsides alike, it remains a genuinely useful word to know.
nounA blue-flowered plant of the daisy family whose bitter leaves are eaten as a salad vegetable, or the roasted root used as a substitute for or additive to coffee.
- The perennial plant Cichorium intybus, with blue flowers, cultivated for its bitter edible leaves.
- The roasted, ground root of this plant, used as a coffee substitute or additive.
- (In cooking) any of several leafy varieties of this plant, such as radicchio or Belgian endive, eaten in salads.
"She stirred roasted chicory into her coffee for a deeper, more bitter flavour."
"Bright blue chicory flowers lined the roadside all through late summer."
"During wartime shortages, many households blended chicory with their coffee to make it go further."
Rarely used; 'chicory' is normally uncountable. The plural appears mainly in botany or gardening when referring to individual plants or varieties.
"She planted several chicories in the kitchen garden."
New Orleans drinks its coffee with chicory because Civil War-era coffee shortages forced locals to stretch their beans — and they never gave up the habit.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of chicory
Chicory entered English in the late Middle Ages, borrowed from Old French cicoree, which derives from Latin cichoria, itself taken from Greek kikhora, the classical name for the plant. The older English form 'succory' came through the same lineage by way of Latin succinum-influenced folk etymology. The botanical genus name Cichorium preserves the original root directly.
How chicory is actually used
In American usage, 'chicory' most often refers to the root used in New Orleans-style coffee; in British and European culinary contexts it more commonly denotes the bitter salad leaves (sometimes sold as Belgian endive or witloof). The word carries a slightly rustic, old-fashioned connotation.
Easily confused with chicory
Endive is a closely related salad plant often confused with chicory; in fact some varieties called Belgian or curly endive are botanically types of chicory, though the two words refer to different plants in strict usage.