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Webster 1913 Edition


Caramel

Car′a-mel

,
Noun.
[F.
caramel
(cf. Sp.
caramelo
), LL.
canna mellis
,
cannamella
,
canamella
,
calamellus mellitus
, sugar cane, from or confused with L.
canna
reed +
mel
,
mellis
, honey. See
Cane
.]
1.
(Chem.)
Burnt sugar; a brown or black porous substance obtained by heating sugar. It is soluble in water, and is used for coloring spirits, gravies, etc.
2.
A kind of confectionery, usually a small cube or square of tenacious paste, or candy, of varying composition and flavor.

Definition 2024


caramel

caramel

English

Noun

caramel (plural caramels)

  1. A smooth, chewy, sticky confection made by heating sugar and other ingredients until the sugars polymerize and become sticky.
  2. A (sometimes hardened) piece of this confection.
  3. A yellow-brown color.

Usage notes

Both the two syllable and the three syllable pronunciations are very common in all regions of the United States, but the trisyllabic pronunciation is more common than the disyllabic one in the South (excluding western Texas), northern New Jersey, eastern New York and New England, while the disyllabic one is more common than the trisyllabic one in other regions.[1]

Derived terms

See also

Translations

Anagrams

References

  1. Dialect Survey map 1, showing that both pronunciations are common in all regions, and map 2, showing which regions the di- and tri-syllabic pronunciations predominate in

French

Etymology

From Spanish caramelo.

Noun

caramel m (plural caramels)

  1. caramel, fudge

Derived terms

Anagrams