bittersweet

Etymology

It is formed from English bitter + sweet,^[2][3][4] and is first recorded in Middle English as bitterswete, in Gower,^[5][2] also biterswete.^[6] The name of the woody nightshade follows New Latin amara dulcis, recorded from 1528 or earlier (compare dulcamara).^[2] For the apple, the OED compares Medieval Latin amarimellum, a kind of apple, found in British glossaries from the 15th century or earlier, from amarus (“bitter”); it may itself follow the English word.^[2] The American Heritage Dictionary says that the North American vine was named after its bark, which tastes bitter and then unpleasantly sweetish when chewed.^[7] Etymonline notes that Greek had a similarly formed compound meaning "sweet-bitter".^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A drink both bitter and sweet, and a kind of apple: both before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the Middle English noun to the late 14th century,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1350–1400.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the noun was used both literally, of drinks and an apple, and figuratively: from about 1395, in Chaucer's Canon's Yeoman's Tale, a bittersweet was something pleasant but mixed with pain or sadness.^[2] The drink sense died out after 1583.^[2] From 1568, in William Turner's Herbal, the noun named the woody nightshade, Solanum dulcamara,^[2][3] and later, from 1807 in North America, the climbing vines of the genus Celastrus.^[2][7] The adjective came later: the OED's first record of the taste sense is from 1577 and of the figurative sense, pleasant but tinged with sadness, from 1590;^[2] Etymonline dates the adjective to the 1610s.^[3] Johnson (1755) knew the noun as the name of an apple "which has a compound taste of sweet and bitter".^[8] In English dialects the word named meadowsweet in East Yorkshire, woody nightshade in Northumberland, Cumberland, Lincolnshire and Somerset, and bitter apples used for cider from Yorkshire to Devon, as in Hardy's "a good crop of bitter-sweets"; in Berkshire it was a spiteful act done under a show of friendship.^[9]

Timeline

• before 1393 – a drink both bitter and sweet (obsolete after 1583).^[2][5]
• before 1393 – a kind of apple with a bittersweet flavour.^[2]
• c. 1395 – something pleasant but mixed with pain, in Chaucer.^[2]
• 1568 – the woody nightshade.^[2][3]
• 1577 – adjective, bitter and sweet at once in taste.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the adjective to 1576.^[6]
• 1590 – adjective, pleasant but tinged with sadness.^[2]
• 1807 – a North American climbing vine of the genus Celastrus.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Tasting both bitter and sweet at once: a bittersweet orange marmalade.^[10][6][2]
2. Pleasant but tinged with sadness or regret: a bittersweet farewell at the station.^[10][6][11]
3. Of chocolate, made with little sugar.^[6][12]
4. Of a dark reddish-orange colour.^[11]

Noun

1. The woody nightshade, a poisonous climbing plant with purple flowers and red berries.^[10][6][2]
2. Any of several woody climbing vines of the genus Celastrus, with orange fruits that open to show red seeds, especially a North American species.^[10][11][2]
3. Something both bitter and sweet; pleasure mixed with pain.^[6][12]
4. A variety of apple with a bittersweet flavour, used especially for cider.^[2][9][8]

Word family

• bittersweetly
• bittersweetness

Related words

• bitter
• sweet
• dulcamara

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster