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sap·sa·go

(săp-sāgō, săpsə-gō′)

n. pl. sap·sa·gos

A hard, dry, pale green cheese colored and flavored with blue fenugreek, made by curdling whey from skimmed cow's milk, and aged. It is usually eaten by grating over other foods or mixing the grated cheese with butter as a spread.

[Alteration of German Schabzieger : schaben, to scrape, grate (from Middle High German, from Old High German skaban) + Zieger, curds made from whey, whey cheese (from Middle High German ziger, ultimately, perhaps via an Alpine Romance form akin to Rhaeto-Romansch tšigrun, from Gaulish *dwigro-; see g^wher- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots).]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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