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).
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.