whisky

Whisky is a clipped form of usque, itself an abbreviation of usquebaugh, borrowed from Scottish Gaelic uisge-beatha, meaning "water of life." That Gaelic phrase was a calque of the Medieval Latin aqua vitae, the same idea rendered in a different tongue.

The long Gaelic phrase uisge-beatha was gradually worn down by English speakers into usquebaugh, then usque, and finally whisky — each stage shedding syllables until only a small, everyday word remained.

It shares its root idea with akvavit, aquavit, aqua vitae, and eau de vie — all different languages' ways of calling strong drink "water of life."