A frozen dessert made from fruit juice, sugar, and water; a fizzy powder candy.
From Arabic sharba or sharbāt meaning 'a drink,' derived from the verb shariba 'to drink.' The term entered Turkish as şerbet, then passed into various European languages. English adopted it in the 17th century through Ottoman Turkish, initially referring to a sweet fruit drink before evolving to describe the frozen dessert.
This icy treat started as just the Arabic word for 'drink'! Ottoman Turks turned Arabic fruit drinks into elaborate chilled beverages, and when Europeans tasted these refreshing concoctions, they borrowed both the recipe and the name.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.