means A clear distilled spirit, typically made from grains or potatoes, prized for its near-neutral flavor and high alcohol content.

from From Russian vodka, a diminutive of voda, meaning 'water' — literally 'little water.' Slavic languages have long called their spirits 'water,' a tradition with cousins across the region; the Polish wódka shares the same root. So the name affectionately shrinks 'water' down to a pet form: the small, fierce water that is anything but gentle.