chocolate English · revision 4795

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1604|origins=nci chocolatl}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈtʃɒk.lət/, /ˈtʃɒk.əl.ət/, US /ˈtʃɑːk.lət/, /ˈtʃɔːk.lət/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|es|chocolate]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) [[der|nci|chocolatl|t=food made from cacao seeds]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) partly through French chocolat.^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) Europeans seem to have confused it with cacahuatl, a drink made from cacao,^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998)^(Barnhart 1988) and its first element might be related to xocalia “to make sour”,^(Etymonline) or, in MWU, xococ “sour, bitter”, with atl “water”.^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) The European forms may also have been influenced by Mayan chocol “hot”.^(Etymonline) It is related to [[cacao]] and [[cocoa]].^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A drink made from the seeds of the cacao tree: 1604 in the OED and Barnhart, in a translation of a Dutch history of the West Indies.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) The Aztecs made it with cold water and the Spanish with hot; it reached Spain by 1520 and spread to the rest of Europe.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a fashionable drink in the 17th and 18th centuries,^(Cresswell 2021) and Pepys wrote in 1664 of going to a coffee-house “to drink jocolatte”.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Etymonline) A paste or cake of ground roasted seeds is from 1640 in Barnhart, 1659 in the OED,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) and a single chocolate sweet from the 1880s.^(Etymonline) The colour, a dark reddish brown, is from 1776.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) ''Chocolate milk'' is by 1845, and ''chocolate chip'' from 1940.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1604 – a drink.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1640 – a paste or cake.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1664 – Pepys drinks “jocolatte”.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1723 – adjective, made of chocolate.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1776 – the colour.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1880s – a chocolate sweet.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A sweet brown food made from roasted and ground [[cacao]] seeds.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A small sweet made of or covered with chocolate.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A hot drink made with chocolate and [[milk]] or water.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A dark brown colour.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Made of or flavoured with chocolate.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Dark brown.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chocolaty]]

+ * [[chocoholic]]

+ * [[chocolate-box]]

+ * [[chocolate milk]]

+ * [[chocolate soldier]]

+ * [[chocolate tree]]

+ * [[dark chocolate]]

+ * [[milk chocolate]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chocolatier]]

+ * [[cacao]]

+ * [[cocoa]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}