Sorbet
/ˈsɔːr.beɪ/noun
A flavored frozen dessert made from sweetened water or fruit juice, sometimes with alcohol.
Did you know?Sorbet ultimately comes from a chain of words tied to drinking, not freezing: Arabic speakers used a form for a sweet beverage, which passed through Turkish and Italian before English turned it into a dessert.
Etymological Timeline
Arabic (medieval)
Arabic
sharba / sharbat
“a drink, especially a sweetened beverage”
Persian
Persian
sharbat
“a sweet drink or sherbet”
Turkish
Turkish
şerbet
“a sweet, fruit-flavored drink”
Italian
Italian
sorbetto
“a flavored iced drink or ice cream-like preparation”
French
French
sorbet
“a frozen dessert or iced drink”
Modern English
English
sorbet
“a frozen dessert made from sweetened water or fruit juice”