sherbet

Sherbet is a frozen dessert made with fruit juice, sugar and water with a small amount of dairy, egg white or gelatin.

(noun)

An example of sherbet is raspberry flavored ice served instead of ice cream at a party.

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See sherbet in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

  1. Brit. a beverage, originally from Asia, made of watered fruit juice and sugar and served cold
  2. a frozen dessert like an ice but with gelatin and, often, milk added
    also, erroneously, sherbert

Origin: Turk ṣerbet < Ar sharba(t), a drink, var. of sharāb: see syrup

See sherbet in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. also sher·bert (-bûrtˌ) A frozen dessert made primarily of fruit juice, sugar, and water, and also containing milk, egg white, or gelatin.
  2. Chiefly British A beverage made of sweetened diluted fruit juice.
  3. also sherbert Australian An alcoholic beverage, especially beer.

Origin:

Origin: Ottoman Turkish, sweet fruit drink

Origin: , from Persian sharbat

Origin: , from Arabic šarba, drink

Origin: , from šariba, to drink; see śrb in Semitic roots

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Word History: Although the word sherbet has been in the English language for several centuries (it was first recorded in 1603), it has not always referred to what one normally thinks of as sherbet. Sherbet came into English from Ottoman Turkish sherbet or Persian sharbat, both going back to Arabic šarba, “drink.” The Turkish and Persian words referred to a beverage of sweetened, diluted fruit juice that was popular in the Middle East and imitated in Europe. In Europe sherbet eventually came to refer to a carbonated drink. Because the original Middle Eastern drink contained fruit and was often cooled with snow, sherbet was applied to a frozen dessert (first recorded in 1891). It is distinguished slightly from sorbet, which can also mean “a fruit-flavored ice served between courses of a meal.” Sorbet (first recorded in English in 1585) goes back through French (sorbet) and then Italian (sorbetto) to the same Turkish sherbet that gave us sherbet.

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