jelly
/ˈd͡ʒɛli/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.77 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A dessert made by boiling gelatine (or a plant-based alternative such as agar or carrageenan), sugar and some flavouring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A clear or translucent fruit preserve, made from fruit juice and set using either naturally occurring, or added, pectin.
Canadian usage; American usage; Countable; Uncountable
noun
A savoury substance, derived from meat, that has the same texture as the dessert.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "His mother prepared jelly for him and his friends for dessert."
- "Rincewind relaxed slightly, which was to say that he still made a violin string look like a bowl of jelly."
- "Perfect jelly is of appetizing flavor; beautifully colored and translucent; tender enough to cut easily with a spoon, yet firm enough to hold its shape when turned from the glass."
- "Jelly has great clarity. Two cooking processes are involved. First, the juice alone is extracted from the fruit. Only that portion thin and clear enough to drip through a cloth is cooked with sugar until sufficiently firm to hold its shape. It is never stiff and never gummy."
- "calf's-foot jelly"
- "Sam floored him perpetually, and beat his face to a jelly, without getting a scratch."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gel- Latin gelū Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin gelō ▲ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin -āta Early Medieval Latin gelāta Old French geleebor. Middle English gele English jelly Inherited from Middle English gele. Doublet of gelee.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈd͡ʒɛli/
- British English: /ˈd͡ʒɛli/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Food.
Inflected Forms
jellies (plural)
gelly (alternative, obsolete)
jellies (present, singular)
jellying (participle, present)
jellied (participle, past)
jellied (past)
more jelly (comparative)
most jelly (superlative)