means So dry you ache for water — whether it's your throat after a run, or cracked soil under a relentless sun.

from From Middle English 'parchen,' meaning to dry up or scorch — but its deeper roots are stubbornly murky, with no clear ancestor. Some have linked it (uncertainly) to Latin 'persiccare,' to dry thoroughly, while others suspect a connection to 'perish.' The honest answer: scholars still don't agree where it came from. What's certain is its long history of describing heat-shrivelled land and crackling-dry throats alike.