lollipop

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] Perhaps it is formed from English lolly (“the tongue”) + pop (“a blow”), with northern dialect lolly "the tongue",^{[2][5][6][7][8]} which the OED records in Cumberland and Northumberland in the late 19th century, and in Yorkshire for a lip.^[2] The OED points out that this lolly is recorded much later and in a far smaller area, and that nothing ties the early lollipop to the north of England;^[2][9] a link with lolly, a porridge or broth, a short form of loblolly, it finds very unlikely, and the exact sense of pop in the word is unclear.^[2] Merriam-Webster derives it from loll, to let the tongue hang out, with -i- and pop,^[10] and Barnhart and Etymonline likewise suggest loll and pop, a stroke or slap.^[11][4] The American Heritage Dictionary offers a second possibility, a phrase of British Romani, loli phabai (“red apple, toffee apple”), from loli (“red”) and phabai (“apple”).^[12] Weekley took it as a word of child language.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sweet, especially a hard sweet of boiled sugar: about 1780, in The Festival of Momus, a collection of comic songs.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date it to 1784,^[4][10] when it was a soft sweet of treacle and sugar.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the late 18th century a lollipop was a dialect name for a particular sweet that melted easily in the mouth,^[9] and the plural came to mean sweets in general.^[14][15] In the 19th century it was a coarse sweet of sugar and treacle in dialects from Warwickshire to Devon and Sussex.^[15] The sweet on a stick is American: the OED finds it in 1904,^[2] while Barnhart and Etymonline date it to the 1920s.^[11][4] Figuratively it was something pleasant but trivial: from 1830 a popular, undemanding piece of literature, art or now music,^[2] and since 1858 a sop offered to pacify someone.^[2][4] Things shaped like the sweet on a stick were named after it: in baseball a slow, high, easy ball (1903), a savoury portion of food on a stick or bone (1930), and in Britain and Australia the round sign on a pole carried at a school crossing (1954).^[2][16] The shortened form lolly appeared in the mid-19th century and is still the usual word for a sweet in Australia and New Zealand.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1780 – a sweet, especially a hard boiled sweet.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date it to 1784.^[4][10]
• 1830 – a popular, undemanding piece of art or music.^[2]
• 1837 – verb, to give someone a lollipop as a treat.^[2]
• 1858 – a sop, something offered to pacify.^[2]
• 1903 – in baseball, a slow, easy ball.^[2]
• 1904 – a sweet on a stick.^[2] Barnhart dates it to the 1920s.^[11]
• 1930 – savoury food served on a stick.^[2]
• 1954 – the round sign on a pole at a school crossing.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of hard candy or toffee on the end of a small stick: The dentist handed out sugar-free lollipops.^[17][16][7]
2. (British) An ice lolly.^[7]
3. (British) A round sign on a pole used to stop traffic at a school crossing.^[16][2]
4. A portion of savoury food on a stick or bone, as a chicken lollipop.^[10][2]
5. A light, popular piece of music or art, meant to please rather than challenge.^[2][14]

Word family

• lolly

Related words

• loll
• pop
• loblolly

References

1. ^ a b 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. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
17. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin