pudding

American  

[pood-ing] / ˈpʊd ɪŋ /

noun

• puddings
  plural

1. a thick, soft dessert, typically containing flour or some other thickener, milk, eggs, a flavoring, and sweetener.

   tapioca pudding.

2. a similar dish unsweetened and served with or as a main dish.

   corn pudding.

3. British. the dessert course of a meal.

4. Nautical. a pad or fender for preventing scraping or chafing or for lessening shock between vessels or other objects.

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pudding British  

/ ˈpʊdɪŋ /

noun

1. a sweetened usually cooked dessert made in many forms and of various ingredients, such as flour, milk, and eggs, with fruit, etc

2. a savoury dish, usually soft and consisting partially of pastry or batter

   steak-and-kidney pudding

3. the dessert course in a meal

4. a sausage-like mass of seasoned minced meat, oatmeal, etc, stuffed into a prepared skin or bag and boiled

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pudding Idioms  

1. see proof of the pudding.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• puddinglike
  adjective
• puddingy
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• puddings
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of pudding

1275–1325; Middle English poding kind of sausage; compare Old English puduc wen, sore (perhaps originally swelling), Low German puddewurst black pudding

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Explanation

Pudding is a sweet, creamy dessert that you eat with a spoon. The song “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” implores someone to “bring us some figgy pudding,” but chocolate or vanilla would be much easier to find. Most pudding is made with milk, sugar, and flavoring with a thickening agent like cornstarch. Your favorite might be dark chocolate, butterscotch, or rice pudding. These are delicious, smooth, and usually served cold. In Britain, pudding simply means "dessert," but in North America pudding is a specific kind of after-dinner treat. Back in the 1300s, pudding had a different meaning: "a kind of sausage." You can still get that kind of blood pudding in England. If you must.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pudding puddings

Whether it be breakfast bacon from local purveyors like Barossa Fine Foods in South Australia’s Barossa Valley or a sticky date pudding with a side of Indigenous wattleseed ice cream.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026

Arturo Bejar, the ex-Instagram engineer turned whistleblower, says the proof of the pudding will be in whether the new teen safety features are effective.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

That’s probably overegging the pudding — I’d be surprised if that many attendees signed on the dotted line — but in the end, it’s a numbers game.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026

“But I suppose even the stickiest pudding is better than a tar pit. Good night.”

From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood

While sweetcorn is already a staple in South East Asian and Latin American puddings, it has largely been relegated to sandwich fillings and pizza toppings in the UK.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

But three months after proposing to his girlfriend, he discovered that not only did he want one, he needed mini Yorkshire puddings with prime rib and horseradish cream at the event.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026

"William was on the sprouts, getting his sprouts ready so they could go into the steamer, and Prince George was helping with the Yorkshire puddings," said Mr Clarke.

From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025

“The Grand Finale” presents the usual British culinary mainstays, like Yorkshire puddings, shortbreads, roasts and vegetables.

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2025

Felicia, Fani, and Emilia could admire him from tables covered with moro crabs and caramel puddings.

From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer

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