Liquid funk and liquid drum and bass are essentially the same sub-genre. The difference is when you started listening to it. The naming history is a small but interesting piece of scene linguistics.

The original "liquid funk"

Fabio coined "liquid funk" in 2000 as a label for the melodic, jazz-influenced DnB he was championing on his Liquid V label. The name caught on. Through the 2000s most heads called the sub-genre liquid funk.

The drift to "liquid"

By 2010 the "funk" qualifier was dropping off. People just said "liquid". By 2018 most listings, mix descriptions, and DJ bios used "liquid drum and bass" or just "liquid". The older term stayed in circulation among long-time heads.

What it tells you

When someone in 2025 still says "liquid funk", they probably started listening in the 2000s. When they say "liquid", they probably started in the 2010s. Neither is wrong. The sub-genre is the same.