sweet-and-sour

American  

[sweet-n-souuhr, -sou-er] / ˈswit nˈsaʊər, -ˈsaʊ ər /

adjective

1. cooked with sugar and vinegar or lemon juice and often other seasonings.

---

sweet-and-sour British  

adjective

1. (of food) cooked in a sauce made from sugar and vinegar and other ingredients

---

Etymology

Origin of sweet-and-sour

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

That said, watching the sweet-and-sour sauce flying in slow motion is actually quite amusing.

From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026

I still remember my graduation banquet at culinary school, where I paired a pistachio-crusted rack of lamb with blackberry gastrique — essentially a French sweet-and-sour sauce made from fruit and vinegar.

From Salon • Mar. 19, 2025

The fried chicken skins I got were a bit tough, but served with a nicely nuanced sweet-and-sour sauce.

From Seattle Times • May 9, 2024

The restaurant, which has served dishes like hot-pot grouper and tofu, and sweet-and-sour pork with pineapple to Torontonians for nearly 50 years, was briefly name-checked in “Euphoria.”

From New York Times • May 6, 2024

It would hurl down cashews and mangoes from the trees and they would start to rot in the humid earth, giving out that sweet-and-sour scent.

From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie