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

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

The meal begins with either veggie steamed dumplings or crispy spiced tofu and ends with dragon fruit and banana sherbet soft serve.

From Washington Post • Aug. 10, 2022

In the case of a certain brocade latticed with wildflowers, that idea was an unlikely color palette; Sabyasachi elevated sophisticated shades of sherbet — vintage lime, guava and banana — with raw silk.

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2022

“Los Angeles at Evening” has no palm trees in silhouette, but its sherbet shades are unmistakably the sunset of our fair city.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 4, 2021

It didn’t to Jonah—he’d always known he was adopted, and as far as he was concerned, it wasn’t much more of a deal than his liking mint chocolate-chip ice cream while Katherine liked orange sherbet.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Related Words

• frozen yogurt
• sorbet