sherbet
sherbet Lexical Profile
sherbet Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American A frozen fruit-flavored dessert containing a small amount of milk, cream, egg white, or gelatin.
"We enjoyed a refreshing bowl of orange sherbet to cleanse our palates after the heavy meal."
British A sweet, fruit-flavored effervescent powder traditionally eaten as a candy or mixed with water to make a fizzy drink.
"The children bought paper tubes filled with fizzy lemon sherbet from the traditional sweet shop."
A traditional Middle Eastern or South Asian cooling drink made of sweetened and diluted fruit juices, often flavored with rose water.
"The host welcomed his guests with glasses of cold, rose-flavored sherbet on the hot summer afternoon."
Word Nuance & Usage
Often confused with 'sorbet', which is entirely dairy-free, whereas 'sherbet' (in North America) typically contains a small amount of milk or cream. It is also frequently misspelled and mispronounced as 'sherbert'.
• Rhymes for sherbet
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish 'şerbet' or Persian 'sharbat', ultimately from the Arabic 'šarba' meaning 'a drink', derived from the verb 'šariba' (to drink).