dessert

See also: desert, dêssèrt, and Dessert

English

Alternative forms

• desert (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-

Proto-Italic *dis-

Latin dis-

Old French des-

Middle French des-

Proto-Indo-European *ser-der.?

Proto-Italic *serwos

Latin servus

Proto-Indo-European *-yétider.

Latin -iō

Latin serviō

Old French servir

Middle French servir

Middle French desservir

Middle French dessertbor.

English dessert

Borrowed from Middle French dessert, from desservir (“disserve”), from dés- (“dis-”) and servir (“serve”), thus literally meaning “removal of what has been served”.

Note: It was erroneously suggested (e.g. in "Glucose syrups: Technology and Applications" (Peter Hull, 2010)) that the word is derived from the name of Benjamin Delessert, the inventor of beet sugar. However, the term predates him by at least a century.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈzɜːt/
• (US) enPR: dĭ-zûrt, IPA^(key): /dɪˈzɝt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: desert (noun sense “that which is deserved”, verb)
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t

Noun

dessert (countable and uncountable, plural desserts)

1. The last course of a meal, consisting of fruit, sweet confections etc.

   I ordered hummus for a starter, a steak as the main course, and chocolate cake for dessert.

   Can I see the dessert menu, please?

2. A sweet dish or confection served as the last course of a meal.

   Trifle is a favourite dessert of the English, but rivalled by pavlova in Australia and New Zealand.

Synonyms

• (sweet final course of a meal): afters (UK informal), pudding (UK), sweet (UK), entremets

Derived terms

• dessert bar
• dessert fork
• dessertful
• dessert grape
• dessertless
• dessertlike
• dessert-plate
• dessertspoon
• dessert spoon
• dessertware
• dessert wine
• desserty
• nondessert
• predessert

Descendants

• → Japanese: デザート (dezāto)

Translations

sweet confection served as the last course of a meal

• Afrikaans: nagereg
• Albanian: ëmbëlsirë (sq) f
• Arabic: حَلْوَى f (ḥalwā), حَلْوَيَات f pl (ḥalwayāt), تَحْلِيَة f (taḥliya)
• Armenian: աղանդեր (hy) (aġander), դեսերտ (hy) (desert)
• Azerbaijani: desert (az), çərəz (az)
• Belarusian: дэсе́рт m (desjért), дэсэ́рт m (desért) (Taraškievica), сало́дкае n (salódkaje)
• Bengali: ডেজার্ট (ḍejarṭo)
• Bulgarian: десе́рт (bg) m (desért)
• Burmese: အချို (my) (a.hkyui), အချိုပွဲ (my) (a.hkyui-pwai:)
• Catalan: llevants (ca) m pl, postres (ca) f pl, darreries (ca) f pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 點心 / 点心 (zh) (diǎnxīn), 餐後甜點 / 餐后甜点 (cānhòu tiándiǎn), 甜食 (zh) (tiánshí), 甜點 / 甜点 (zh) (tiándiǎn), (Western) 西點 / 西点 (zh) (xīdiǎn)

• Czech: zákusek m, dezert m
• Danish: efterret c, dessert (da) c
• Dutch: dessert (nl) n, nagerecht (nl) n, toetje (nl) n
• Esperanto: postmanĝaĵo, deserto (eo)
• Estonian: magustoit, dessert (et)
• Faroese: eftirrættur m, eftirmatur m, omaná, dessert f
• Finnish: jälkiruoka (fi)
• French: dessert (fr) m
• Galician: postre m, lamberete m
• Georgian: დესერტი (deserṭi)
• German: Nachtisch (de) m, Nachspeise (de) f, Dessert (de) n
• Greek: γλυκό (el) n (glykó), επιδόρπιο (el) n (epidórpio)

  Ancient Greek: τράγημα n (trágēma)

• Haitian Creole: desè
• Hawaiian: monamona
• Hebrew: קינוח \ קִנּוּחַ (he) m (kinuakh)
• Hindi: मिठाई (hi) f (miṭhāī), हलवा (hi) m (halvā), डेज़र्ट (ḍezarṭ)
• Hungarian: desszert (hu)
• Hunsrik: Nohdisch m
• Icelandic: eftirréttur m
• Ido: desero (io)
• Indonesian: disert, pencuci mulut (id)
• Ingrian: herkku
• Irish: milseog (ga) f
• Italian: dolce (it) m, dessert (it) m
• Japanese: (general) デザート (ja) (dezāto); (only for a sweet one) スイーツ (ja) (suītsu)
• Kazakh: десерт (desert)
• Khmer: បង្អែម (km) (bɑngʼaem)
• Korean: 후식(後食) (ko) (husik), 디저트 (ko) (dijeoteu)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: şîranî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: десерт (ky) (desert)
• Lao: ຂອງຫວານ (khǭng huān)
• Latin: bellaria n pl, secunda mensa f
• Latvian: deserts m, saldais ēdiens
• Lithuanian: desertas m
• Luxembourgish: Dessert m
• Macedonian: десерт m (desert)
• Malay: pencuci mulut
• Māori: purini, towhiro
• Mongolian: амттан (mn) (amttan)
• Norman: dêssèrt m
• Norwegian: etterrett m, dessert (no) m
• Papiamentu: pasaboca, pasaboka
• Persian: دسر (fa) (deser)
• Plautdietsch: Läpelkost f
• Polish: deser (pl) m
• Portuguese: sobremesa (pt)
• Romanian: desert (ro) n
• Russian: десе́рт (ru) m (desért), сла́дкое (ru) n (sládkoje)
• Scottish Gaelic: mìlsean m, mìlse f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: посластица f, сластица f, слатко n, дезерт m

  Latin: poslastica (sh) f, slastica (sh) f, slatko (sh) n, dezert (sh) m

• Slovak: dezert (sk) m
• Slovene: sladica f
• Spanish: dulce (es) m, postre (es) m
• Swedish: efterrätt (sv) c
• Tagalog: panghimagas
• Tajik: десерт (desert)
• Thai: อาหารหวาน (th) (aa-hǎan-wǎan), ขนม (th) (kà-nǒm), ของหวาน (th) (kɔ̌ɔng-wǎan)
• Turkish: tatlı (tr)
• Turkmen: desert
• Ukrainian: десе́рт m (desért), соло́дке n (solódke)
• Urdu: میٹھائی f (miṭhāī)
• Uzbek: desert (uz)
• Vietnamese: tráng miệng (vi)
• Volapük: poszib (vo)
• Welsh: melysfwyd (cy) m, pwdin (cy) m (informal)
• Yiddish: פֿאַרבײַסן n (farbaysn), דעסערט m (desert)
• Zazaki: şirane (diq) m

Anagrams

• deserts, tressed

Danish

Etymology

From French dessert, from desservir (“disserve”), from dés- (“dis-”) and servir (“serve”).

Noun

dessert c (singular definite desserten, plural indefinite desserter)

1. dessert

Declension

Declension of dessert

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	dessert	desserten	desserter	desserterne
genitive	desserts	dessertens	desserters	desserternes

References

• “dessert” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French dessert, from desservir (“disserve”), from dés- (“dis-”) and servir (“serve”), thus literally meaning “removal of what has been served”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛˈsɛr/, /dɛˈsɛrt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: des‧sert
• Rhymes: -ɛr, -ɛrt

Noun

dessert n (plural desserten or desserts, diminutive dessertje n)

1. a dessert

   Synonyms: nagerecht, naspijs, toespijs, toetje

Derived terms

• dessertkaart

Descendants

• Afrikaans: dessert

Estonian

Etymology

German Dessert.

Noun

dessert (genitive desserdi, partitive desserti)

1. dessert

Declension

Declension of dessert (ÕS type 22e/riik, t-d gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		dessert	desserdid
accusative	nom.
	gen.	desserdi
genitive			dessertide
partitive		desserti	desserte dessertisid
illative		desserti desserdisse	dessertidesse desserdesse
inessive		desserdis	dessertides desserdes
elative		desserdist	dessertidest desserdest
allative		desserdile	dessertidele desserdele
adessive		desserdil	dessertidel desserdel
ablative		desserdilt	dessertidelt desserdelt
translative		desserdiks	dessertideks desserdeks
terminative		desserdini	dessertideni
essive		desserdina	dessertidena
abessive		desserdita	dessertideta
comitative		desserdiga	dessertidega

Synonyms

• magustoit

Further reading

• “dessert”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• dessert in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French dessert, from desservir (“disserve”), from dés- (“dis-”) +‎ servir (“serve”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.sɛʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

dessert m (plural desserts)

1. dessert, pudding

Derived terms

• cuillère à dessert

Descendants

• → Czech: dezert
• → Danish: dessert
• → Dutch: dessert (see there for further descendants)
• → English: dessert (see there for further descendants)
• → German: Dessert (see there for further descendants)
• → Norwegian Bokmål: dessert
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: dessert
• → Persian: دسر (deser)
• → Polish: deser
• → Russian: десерт (desert)

Verb

dessert

1. third-person singular present indicative of desservir

Further reading

• “dessert”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• déserts

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French dessert.

Noun

dessert m (definite singular desserten, indefinite plural desserter, definite plural dessertene)

1. dessert

References

• “dessert” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From French dessert.

Noun

dessert m (definite singular desserten, indefinite plural dessertar, definite plural dessertane)

1. dessert

References

• “dessert” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romansh

Noun

dessert m (plural desserts)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader) dessert

Synonyms

• (Sutsilvan) dultsch

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from French dessert.

Noun

dessert c

1. (more fancy) dessert

   Synonym: efterrätt

Declension

Declension of dessert

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	dessert	desserts
	definite	desserten	dessertens
plural	indefinite	desserter	desserters
	definite	desserterna	desserternas

Derived terms

• dessertost
• dessertpizza (“dessert pizza”)
• dessertsked
• desserttallrik
• dessertvin

Further reading

• “dessert”, in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker [Dictionaries of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• dessert in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

dessert n (plural desserts, diminutive dessertsje)

1. dessert

Further reading

• “dessert”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011