means A small starchy grain harvested from a cultivated grass, eaten as a staple food across much of the world.

from It came into English through Old French 'ris' and Italian 'riso', from Latin 'oryza', which the Romans borrowed from Greek 'oryza' — a word likely picked up somewhere along the eastern trade routes, with possible roots in an Old Iranian or even Indian source. So the grain that feeds Asia carried its name westward right alongside the harvest.