toffee

American  

[taw-fee, tof-ee] / ˈtɔ fi, ˈtɒf i /

Sometimes toffy

noun

toffees plural

1. a brittle or chewy brown candy made of sugar or molasses boiled down with butter, often mixed with nuts.

2. British. taffy.

---

toffee British  

/ ˈtɒfɪ /

noun

1. a sweet made from sugar or treacle boiled with butter, nuts, etc

2. informal (preceded by can't) to be incompetent at a specified activity

   he can't sing for toffee

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• toffees
  plural

Etymology

Origin of toffee

First recorded in 1860–65; the earlier variants toughy, tuffy were first recorded in 1825–30 ; southern British dialect form of original northern British dialect taffy ( def. ); further origin uncertain

Compare meaning

How does toffee compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• toffee vs. caramel

Explanation

Toffee is a hard or brittle candy made from butter and sugar. Some candy bars are made by coating toffee in chocolate. Yum! Toffee is often confused with another candy with nearly the exact same ingredients, taffy. The difference is mainly in the candy-making process: taffy is pulled and stretched until it's soft and chewy. Toffee, on the other hand, won't stick in your teeth like taffy, because it is boiled, shaped, and allowed to harden into a delicious, glossy slab.

Example Sentences

Global packaged foods giant Nestle rejigged its Toffee Crisp range and Blue Riband recipes in the U.K. so much that the products no longer could be called ‘chocolate’ at the end of last year.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

They battled through the contest and had only one shot on target, which came in the sixth minute when former Toffee Alex Iwobi's caressed shot was batted out by Pickford.

From BBC • Dec. 19, 2023

For recipes without clear batch sizes, like this Scottish Toffee, be honest about serving sizes.

From Salon • Apr. 22, 2023

Sammy is sitting at Mandy's kitchen table in Halifax, with Mandy's dog Toffee curled up under her chair.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2023

"I'm pretty sure this is Toffee Coffee," Nancy said.

From "Scream for Ice Cream: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #2" by Carolyn Keene