dessert

Everyday

Dessert is the sweet food eaten at the end of a meal, like ice cream, pudding, fruit or cake. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life, it comes after the main course. In lessons on healthy eating, desserts are «sometimes foods». In maths, desserts appear in fractions and sharing problems (a pie cut into pieces). Phrases: «for dessert», «dessert spoon», «dessert menu».

Examples

• What's for dessert tonight? tree →
• We had apple crumble for dessert. tree →
• You can have dessert after you finish your vegetables. tree →
• The dessert menu had five kinds of ice cream. tree →
• She made a fruit salad for dessert. tree →
• Grandma's chocolate pudding is my favourite dessert. tree →
• A dessert spoon is bigger than a teaspoon. tree →

Note

Spelling trap: «dessert» (sweet food, two s's, stress on the second part: «di-ZERT») versus «desert» (dry sandy land, one s, «DEZ-ert»). Memory trick: dessert has two s's because you want seconds of it. In the UK, dessert is also called «pudding» or «afters».