means A distilled spirit made from fermented grain mash and matured in wooden casks, typically oak.

from From the Irish and Scots Gaelic 'uisce beatha' (Irish) / 'uisge beatha' (Scots Gaelic), meaning 'water of life' — itself a translation of the Latin 'aqua vitae,' the medieval distiller's grand name for spirits. English speakers wrestled the tongue-twisting Gaelic phrase down to 'usquebaugh,' then mercifully clipped it to 'whisky.' The 'e' is a tribal marker: Irish and American distillers spell it 'whiskey,' while Scotch and most others drop it as 'whisky' — same water of life, different households.