Dessert

How to spell dessert

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce dessert

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dessert mean?

1. nounThe sweet course served at the end of a meal, such as cake, ice cream, or pudding.

Dessert in a sentence

• The restaurant offered a chocolate cake for dessert.

• She saved room for dessert after the heavy main course.

Where does dessert come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the mid-1600s straight from French, where dessert was the past participle of desservir, meaning 'to clear the table'. That verb was built from the prefix des-, which signals reversal or removal, plus servir, 'to serve', so the literal idea was the act of un-serving, that is, taking away the main dishes. The sweet course earned the name because it was what arrived once the savoury plates had been cleared away. The doubled s, which is the spelling trap for English writers, is a genuine fossil of that French servir root, and it is precisely what separates dessert from the unrelated word desert (an arid place, or the verb meaning to abandon). A handy memory hook: dessert has two s letters because you always want a second helping of something sweet.

How the word is built

• des- (de-, undo/remove)
• -sert (from French servir, to serve); literally what is served after the table is cleared