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.

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sweet-and-sour British  

adjective

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

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Etymology

Origin of sweet-and-sour

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

While Lindhome solo retains her trademark singsong, sweet-and-sour delivery, the themes within her work have deepened to reflect a more complicated stage of life.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2025

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

Beyond dishes and ingredients, though, Korkosz also acknowledges a very important flavor profile within Polish food: fermented foods and sweet-and-sour components.

From Salon • Mar. 6, 2024

The now-familiar sweet-and-sour flavour of General Tso's chicken was meant to woo a foreigner's taste buds, Mr Pei says.

From BBC • Jan. 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