sorbet
/ˈsɔːbeɪ
/ /ˈsɔːbɪt/noun
1A water ice: a delicious fruit sorbet [mass noun]: they ate orange sorbet...
- Pudding was a passion fruit sorbet which Ronay pronounced the best sorbet he had ever eaten, and we finished the meal with coffee and Armagnac.
- Any dessert with a sorbet or ice cream will give pleasure here.
- Other desserts include bananas or papaya in caramel and cream sauce, bread pudding with custard, coconut or banana tarts, delicious coconut sorbet, and a mean coconut nougat.
2 archaic An Arabian sherbet.That's right, sherbets and sorbets originally were drinks made from sweetened fruit juice.
Origin
Late 16th century: from French, from Italian sorbetto, from Turkish şerbet, based on Arabic šariba 'to drink'; compare with sherbet.
sherbet from early 17th century:
The words sherbet and sorbet (late 16th century) are essentially the same, and are closely related to syrup (Late Middle English) and shrub (mid 18th century), a drink made with sweetened fruit juice and rum or brandy. All go back to a group of words centring on Arabic sariba ‘to drink’. The sharp-tasting powdered sweet sherbet was originally used to make a fizzy drink, from the 1850s.