dessert English · revision 16165

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1540|origins=la serviō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /dɪˈzɝt/; /dɪˈzɜːt/ ''(UK)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|dessert|t=last course of a meal]],^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024) literally the removal of what has been served, from [[m|frm|desservir|t=to clear the table]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[m|frm|des-|t=removal, undoing]] and [[m|fro|servir|t=to serve]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[la|serviō|t=to serve]].^(Klein 1966)^(MWU 2024) French also had the feminine [[m|frm|desserte]].^(Hoad 1986)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A course of fruit, nuts and sweetmeats served after dinner: 1540, in the accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, in the OED's revised entry.^(OED 2026) Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date it to 1600, as ''desert'',^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) and the spelling ''dessert'' to 1666, in Pepys.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The dessert was originally fruit and nuts after the meal; in later use it came to mean especially a sweet course,^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) and in Britain the older sense, fresh fruit served after the sweet, lingered.^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023) A single sweet dish eaten as dessert is from 1745.^(OED 2026) ''Dessert-wine'' is from 1733 and ''dessert-spoon'' from 1776.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1540 – a course of fruit and sweets after dinner.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1600 – ''desert''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1666 – the spelling ''dessert'', in Pepys.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1733 – ''dessert-wine''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1745 – a sweet dish.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1776 – ''[[dessertspoon|alt=dessert-spoon]]''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The sweet course at the end of a meal, or a dish served as one.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(chiefly British, dated)'' Fruit and nuts served after a meal.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dessertspoon]]

+ * [[dessert fork]]

+ * [[dessert wine]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[serve]]

+ * [[service]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Ayto calls it a first cousin of ''[[desert]]'' "what one deserves", from French ''deservir'', a compound of the same verb ''serve'' with a different prefix; it is unrelated to ''desert'', a barren region, from Latin ''dēsertus''.^(Ayto 2005) Its early English spelling was ''desert''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}