sherbet

American  

[shur-bit] / ˈʃɜr bɪt /

noun

1. Sometimes sherbert a frozen dessert made with sweetened fruit juice or purée, typically containing milk or cream, with egg white or gelatin often added.

2. a traditional Middle Eastern drink made of sweetened fruit juice diluted with water and ice.

3. Chiefly British. a sweetened powder moistened in the mouth and eaten as a fizzy confection or mixed with water to make a fizzy drink.

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sherbet British  

/ ˈʃɜːbət /

noun

1. a fruit-flavoured slightly effervescent powder, eaten as a sweet or used to make a drink

   lemon sherbet

2. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): sorbet.  a water ice made from fruit juice, egg whites, milk, etc

3. slang beer

4. a cooling Oriental drink of sweetened fruit juice

5. informal a euphemistic word for shit

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Etymology

Origin of sherbet

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Turkish şerbet, from Persian sharbat, from Arabic sharbah “a drink,” from shariba “to drink”

Explanation

Sherbet is a frozen dessert made of fruit juice and sugar. Though it looks like ice cream, sherbet is a little different since it's made with little or no milk or cream. Since sherbet is typically made with fruit, it often comes in shockingly bright colors like pink, orange, or green and has a refreshing taste. This delicious summer treat has been around a long time, in some form at least — the word sherbet came into English in the 17th century from the Turkish word zerbet, meaning "drink made from diluted fruit juice and sugar." Make sure you don't add an extra "r" in sherbet: the ending is spelled "bet."

Example Sentences

He illuminated the auditorium with candles and converted the private boxes into buffets stocked with alcohol, coffee, hot chocolate, sherbet and carved meats.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

Armed with a three-and-a-half-octave range, her voice was “as cool as sherbet, creamy, delicately colored, mildly flavored,” as Ariel Swartley wrote in Rolling Stone magazine in 1979.

From New York Times • Jun. 17, 2024

When Miss World became popular in India, it also brought a different idea of beauty - of tiny sculpted waists, sherbet gowns and a heavily contoured face.

From BBC • Jun. 27, 2023

Cool off with this family-friendly nonalcoholic cocktail that features a refreshing combination of homemade orange sherbet bobbing about in orange juice and seltzer.

From Salon • Jan. 13, 2023

There were goblets, sherbet glasses, ice-cream glasses, wine glasses, green glass coffee cups with matching saucers, and water glasses.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

Related Words

• frozen yogurt
• sorbet