caramel

[kar-uh-muh l, -mel, kahr-muh l]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR caramel ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a liquid made by cooking sugar until it changes color, used for coloring and flavoring food.

a kind of chewy candy, commonly in small blocks, made from sugar, butter, milk, etc.

a yellowish brown or tan color.

Origin of caramel

1715–25; < French < Spanish or Portuguese caramelo < Late Latin calamellus little reed (by dissimilation), equivalent to calam(us) reed (see calamus) + -ellus diminutive suffix; meaning changed by association with Medieval Latin cannamella, canna mellis, etc., sugar cane, equivalent to Latin canna cane + mel honey (genitive mellis)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for caramel

carbohydrate, sweet, cream, dainty, confetti, caramel, candy, levulose, lactose, saccharin, xylose, sucrose, maltose, fructose, dextrose, saccharose, sweetener, glucose, aureate, blond

Examples from the Web for caramel

Contemporary Examples of caramel

These bad boys add in a dangerously decadent layer of caramel to create the so-called “Even Sluttier Slutty Brownies.”
A Chocolate-Dipped Potato Chip and More Crazy Food Creations
Alice Robinson
November 7, 2013
Beyond the river, caramel plains rolled away to the distant horizon, spotted with acacia trees and slow-moving giraffe.
Walking With Wildebeests: Exploring the Serengeti on Foot
Joanna Eede
July 9, 2013
My three younger siblings have skin tones that range from caramel to a golden bronze.
‘Dark Girls’: OWN Documentary Spotlights Skin Color
Tika Sumpter
June 23, 2013
It was this giant round patty of chocolate, nuts, and caramel.
Christopher Kennedy Lawford, Patrick Kennedy Talk Addiction, New Book
Lloyd Grove
January 9, 2013
CARAMEL NUT BRULEE A delicious but simple desert, a wonderful combination of creamy and crunchy textures.
Sweet Brits
Lydia Brownlow
April 4, 2011

Historical Examples of caramel

Make 1/2 cupful of the sugar and the 1/2 cupful of water into caramel.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
I must now speak of another sister, Caramel, though I do so with grief.
Marge Askinforit
Barry Pain
Have ready some caramel, and stir in enough to give a decided flavor.
Health on the Farm
H. F. Harris
I'll just trot this in for the supper, and we'll take the caramel layer to the Fair.
At the Little Brown House
Ruth Alberta Brown
It was tea-time then at Caramel Cottage, and they sat down to take it.
Johnny Ludlow, Sixth Series
Mrs. Henry Wood

British Dictionary definitions for caramel

caramel

noun

burnt sugar, used for colouring and flavouring food

a chewy sweet made from sugar, butter, milk, etc

Word Origin for caramel

C18: from French, from Spanish caramelo, of uncertain origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for caramel

1725, from French caramel "burnt sugar" (17c.), via Old Spanish caramel (modern caramelo), ultimately from Medieval Latin cannamellis, traditionally from Latin canna (see cane (n.)) + mellis, genitive of mel "honey" (see Melissa). But some give the Medieval Latin word an Arabic origin, or trace it to Latin calamus "reed, cane."