angelica
n. uncountablen. a tall plant with small green or white flowers. People use its sweet-smelling stems in cooking, especially to decorate cakes or make medicine.
n. a tall aromatic plant of the parsley family, specifically Angelica archangelica. The candied stems are used in confectionery, while the roots and seeds are employed in herbal medicine and flavoring liqueurs.
She decorated the cake with green pieces of candied angelica.
The recipe calls for chopped angelica to add a unique, herbal sweetness to the traditional fruitcake.
Wild angelica thrives in damp soil near riverbanks, though the cultivated variety is more commonly sought for its medicinal properties and its role in flavoring botanical spirits like gin.
Church Italian Angelica, from Latin angelica or a Latinate elaboration of Angela. Name of a heroine in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (1516).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Uncountable when referring to the plant species or the culinary ingredient; countable when referring to individual plants.
Last updated May 8, 2026