Meaning

noun the dried root of the chicory plant: used as a coffee substitute

noun perennial Old World herb having rayed flower heads with blue florets cultivated for its root and its heads of crisp edible leaves used in salads

noun root of the chicory plant roasted and ground to substitute for or adulterate coffee

originFrom Late Middle English cicoree, cicory, cicorea, sicory, sycory (“common chicory (Cichorium intybus); heliotrope”), from Old French cicoree (modern French chicorée (“common chicory; endive; coffee substitute made from common chicory”)), or directly from its etymon Medieval Latin cicorea, cichorea, *cichōria, from Latin cichorium, cichoreum (“common chicory; endive”), from Ancient Greek κίχορα…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0