The american word for the british sweets is

As Americans wake up to the wonders of The Great British Baking Show, they’re also realizing something else: Nobody on this side of the Atlantic Ocean really knows what any of these desserts are.

So to accompany your Thanksgiving viewing of the greatest baking competition of our time, here’s a guide to what they’re actually talking about. The differences between what British people and Americans mean by «pudding» and «biscuit» might sound silly. But underlying those differences are longstanding cultural divergences that explain not just why the two nations call food different things, but why they eat so differently.

The two meanings of «pudding»

«Pudding» can refer generically to the sweet, final course of a meal, what Americans know as «dessert.» (Because it’s the UK, this has class implications. Nancy Mitford, in a famous essay comparing the speech of upper-class Britons with everyone else, categorized «pudding» as used by the elite and «sweet» as used by the proletariat.)

But a pudding can also be a specific dish — and a British pudding still isn’t the same as an American one. American puddings are closer to what the Brits would call «custard.»

A British pudding is a dish, savory or sweet, that’s cooked by being boiled or steamed in something: a dish, a piece of cloth, or even animal intestine. The earliest puddings, in this sense of the word, were sausages; black pudding, a type of sausage made with pig’s blood, is sometimes included in a traditional English breakfast.

Other puddings are sweet, such as spotted dick — a sort of steamed cake with currants that’s barely sweet and, like many puddings, flavored with suet, or beef fat, rather than butter. Jam roly-poly, or roly-poly pudding, is traditionally steamed; it consists of a pastry made with suet, spread with jam, and rolled up.

And just to make things a bit more confusing, some dishes are referred to as «puddings» that are sometimes baked but formerly were boiled or steamed. The best example is sticky toffee pudding, a date cake with caramel sauce that’s traditionally steamed but is now often baked. (It also might originally be Canadian, not British.)

Americans are the outlier on how we use «biscuit»

(Shutterstock)

American biscuits are small, fluffy quick breads, leavened with baking powder or buttermilk and served with butter and jam or gravy. They are close to what the British would call scones. But American scones are different, because nothing about this is uncomplicated.

To most of the rest of the English-speaking world, a biscuit is what Americans would refer to as either a cookie or a cracker. Biscuits can be sweet (shortbread) or savory. They’re baked in the oven, and they’re crisp, not chewy. That’s why the biscuit challenges on The Great British Baking Show usually include both sweet biscuits and savory ones.

What about chewy cookies, like chocolate chip or snickerdoodle? These aren’t nearly as common in the UK as they are in the US, but when they’re made there, they’re still called cookies.

As the Oxford Dictionaries blog put it:

So you’ve got it, right? A British biscuit is an American cookie and an American cookie is a British cookie and an American biscuit is a British scone and an American scone is something else entirely. Simple!

Basically everything is called something different, actually

(Shutterstock)

Cooking vocabulary is a place where American English and British English tend to diverge a lot. If you frequently read British recipes or cookbooks, you’re constantly coming up against references to aubergines (eggplants), mangetouts (snow peas), courgettes (zucchini), coriander (cilantro), sultanas (golden raisins), and rocket (arugula).

In savory foods, these differences often reflect patterns in immigration and cultural exchange. The British terms are usually French, while the American versions are influenced by Italy: zucchini and arugula came to the US with Italian immigrants, who brought their words for it; in the UK, they were more likely to come across the channel.

The same divergence happens with terms for desserts. British toffee is American caramel. American bar cookies are British traybakes. British scones are less buttery and less sweet than American scones, although they go by the same name.

In the US, a flapjack is a less common way of saying «pancake»; in the UK, it’s a chewy, sweet granola bar. What the English call a pancake is what Americans would call a crepe, and American pancakes, which are fluffier and more leavened, are called «American pancakes.» (Scottish pancakes, on the other hand, are fairly close to American pancakes.)

In this case, the US and the UK used to use the same words, and it was the British who diverged: Americans have said «flapjack» since Colonial times, and the word used to refer to flat cakes, much like pancakes, in the UK as well. It wasn’t until the 1930s when the UK began referring to oat cakes instead.

But it’s not just the words — the desserts themselves are different

(Shutterstock)

The most interesting differences on The Great British Baking Show don’t show up in what the baked goods are called. They’re in what the contestants are baking in the first place.

Some of savory challenges, and the pastry challenges that are more influenced by French than British traditions, are fairly recognizable to an American audience. But the traditional British desserts are very different from traditional American desserts, and The Great British Baking Show is really just scratching the surface here.

Nearly all classic British desserts (Serious Eats has a great guide to them) are rarely eaten, if at all, in the United States. The most common reference for trifle is an episode of Friends. Eton mess is a mixture of meringue, strawberries, and cream named after one of the UK’s most exclusive schools. Banoffee pie is so sweet that it’s sometimes blamed on America, but the mixture of bananas, caramel, and whipped cream in a graham cracker crust is in fact British through and through. Even familiar baked goods like cake tend to be a little different — sponge cake plays a prominent role, sometimes rolled up into a Swiss roll, sometimes checkerboarded in different colors for a Battenberg.

American and British desserts are so different because sugar became more cheaply available after the US won its independence in the late 18th century. British cuisine in general didn’t strongly influence American cuisine, at first because the available ingredients in Colonial times were fairly different even if the underlying techniques were similar. Traditional British food, when it’s good, depends on readily available ingredients that are simply prepared. Beginning in the 19th century, the French — with their fancier sauces and pastries — dominated professional cooking.

Many British desserts are from later generations, and so the answer to why Americans don’t eat British desserts is the same as why we don’t really eat fish and chips or mushy peas — British food is different in part because it’s one of the few types of British culture that hasn’t left much of a mark on the modern US. So if The Great British Baking Show makes you crave a Victoria sponge or a banoffee pie, you may be out of luck.

Further reading:

• British Food History on puddings, with an addendum
• Separated By a Common Language tries to answer what the British would call American pudding
• Anglotopia has more on the history of puddings
• A history of pancakes from National Geographic
• How pancakes differ around the world
• More on the difference between British and American scones

---

Vox Featured Video

sweets.
In British English, small, sweet things that you eat, such as toffees and chocolates, are called sweets. She did not allow her children to eat too many sweets. In American English, sweet things like these are called candy. Candy is an uncountable noun.

Do they say candy in Britain?

Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called sugar confectionery, encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum, and sugar candy.

What does candy mean in British slang?

Candy has many meanings, for example sexual intercourse or drugs ( crack,cocaine,ecstasy). I hope this helps.

Do British people call candy lollies?

Lollies = candy = sweeties
We call them lollies, but a lolly in England would only mean a lollipop on a stick. The English instead refer to regular lollies as “sweets” or “sweeties”, while they’re known as “candy” Stateside.

What do British call biscuits?

scones
American biscuits are small, fluffy quick breads, leavened with baking powder or buttermilk and served with butter and jam or gravy. They are close to what the British would call scones.

What is the British word for French fries?

In the UK we have a worryingly high number of words for different types of potato foods. We call French fries just fries, and thicker-cut fries that come from a chip shop are called chips.

What does it mean if a guy calls you candy?

Slang. cocaine. someone or something that is pleasing or pleasurable, usually in a superficial way (often used in combination): The show is candy, but enjoy it for what it is. See also arm candy, ear candy, eye candy. SEE MORE.

How do British say popsicle?

ice lollies
This is ice lolly land. You might know them as popsicles. Or maybe even ice blocks. But, in Britain, they’re called ice lollies.

What do British people call a popsicle?

An ice pop is also referred to as a popsicle in Canada and the United States, paleta in Mexico and the Southwestern United States, ice lolly in the United Kingdom (the term ice pop refers to a freezie in the United Kingdom), ice drop in the Philippines, ice gola in India, and ice candy in India and Japan.

Do Australians say sweets or candy?

lollies
What are lollies in Australia? Lollies is the Australian word for sweets or candy.

What is toilet paper called in England?

Senior Member. I use “loo roll” or “toilet paper”. (“Loo roll” is more informal.)

What do British call holidays?

bank holidays
British people talk about bank holidays. These are also legal days off, like Christmas or Easter, but also include specific days of the year, such as the first Monday in May. If it’s not Christmas, a bank holiday is normally on a Monday in the UK.

What do British call scones?

A Biscuit (U.S.) Is a Scone (U.K.)
The closest British equivalent to those buttery miracles is a scone, which ain’t too bad either. Both baked goodies use flour, fat, liquid and a leavening agent.

What do they call cupcakes in England?

A cupcake (also British English: fairy cake; Hiberno-English: bun) is a small cake designed to serve one person, which may be baked in a small thin paper or aluminum cup.

What do British people call cigarettes?

Fag
Fag may refer to: FAG, a brand of the Schaeffler Group. Cigarette, in British slang.

What is arugula called in the UK?

Rocket
Arugula or Rocket
Rocket, on the other hand, comes from the northern Italian word, ruchetta, which became roquette in France, and then rocket in the U.K..

How do the British say cake?

Break ‘cake’ down into sounds: [KAYK] – say it out loud and exaggerate the sounds until you can consistently produce them.
Below is the UK transcription for ‘cake’:

1. Modern IPA: kɛ́jk.
2. Traditional IPA: keɪk.
3. 1 syllable: “KAYK”

What do British call Fish and chips?

Fish and chip shops are called “chippies” in British slang. By 1910, there were 25,000 fish and chip shops in the U.K., and they even stayed open during World War I.

What is the British word for diaper?

Diaper is what they use in North America, and Nappy is the word used in the UK & Ireland, Australia, NZ and many other Commonwealth countries.

What is the American English word for lift?

British vs American Vocabulary

British English ↕	American English ↕
lift	elevator
lorry	truck, semi, tractor
mad	crazy, insane
main road	highway

What candy girl means?

CandyGirls are a line of realistic sex dolls manufactured by Orient Industries in Japan.

Did you know that the word candy comes from the Arabic word for ‘sugar’? Well, I didn’t until just now.

Since my post on baked goods has inspired comments on wine gums, I should say something about candy and sweets.

In BrE, candy refers to things that are made from sugar that’s been melted (usually with water and some flavo(u)ring) and resolidified in some form, including boiled sweets (AmE = hard candy) and candy floss (AmE = cotton candy). Candies belong to the wider category of sweets, which includes chocolate, toffees, and anything else that you’d eat on its own in order to rot your teeth. When talking with children, they’re often called sweeties. Sweet shops speciali{s/z}e in selling sweets.

In AmE you’d get them at the candy store, and they’d be called candy, even if they’re made from chocolate or nuts or whatnot. Thus, in the US one eats candy bars such as a Milky Way, while in the UK one eats chocolate bars such as Milky Way. (Click on the link to read more about the difference between Milky Ways and other candy/chocolate bars in the UK and US.) Candy store also has its place in an AmE idiom: (to be/feel) like a kid in a candy store—that is, really excited and happy, due to some external stimulus. For example:

Lately he even gets offered more interesting work than he can handle, a problem he tends to solve by accepting all of it. He feels like «a kid in a candy store.» [International Herald Tribune on jazz musician Chris Potter]

Like a child/kid in a sweet shop is used in this way in BrE, but it’s not as established as an idiom.

Of course, there are lots of sweets/candies that are produced in the UK but not the US and vice versa (though Canada provides an interesting middle ground with some of both). But here are a few whose names create cross-dialectal confusion.

In BrE sherbet is a sweet-tart powder consisting of sugar, tartaric acid, bicarbonate of soda (AmE prefers baking soda), and mostly artificial flavo(u)rings and colo(u)rs. The closest thing in the US is probably the stuff in Pixy Sticks (straws filled with sweet-tart powder), but it’s a bit different because sherbet is more fizzy (due to the soda). English friends my age get very sentimental about flying saucers (pictured left), which are (BrE) sherbet surrounded by a material that tastes and feels like communion wafers. When I was young, we played «church» with Necco wafers (pictured right). I wore a half-slip on my head to be a nun or a bride, depending on my mood. I feel rather cheated that we didn’t have flying saucers to play church with, but other than their similarity to papery-tasting hosts, I don’t really understand the appeal. But then, physical resemblance to communion hosts was just about the only appeal of Necco wafers as well.

In the US, sherbet is a frozen dessert that is like sorbet, but which usually has some dairy content (though not as much as an ice cream would). I don’t think it’s eaten as much now as when I was a child, since sorbet has become available and popular.

[This paragraph added later due to a comment from kathyf.] Smarties are small, colo(u)rful sweets/candies in both countries. UK Smarties (pictured left) are like M&Ms—milk chocolate in a candy shell, made by Rowntree/Nestle. They differ from M&Ms in the colo(u)r assortment, the quality of the chocolate (people tend to prefer the one they grew up with) and the fact that orange smarties have orange-flavo(u)red chocolate. (There’s a lot more orange-flavo(u)red chocolate in the UK than the US.) US Smarties (pictured right) are little discs of mostly-sweet-with-a-little-tart pastel-colo(u)red sugary stuff, which crumbles when bitten. I’ve just described them to Better Half, and neither of us can think of something similar in the UK. They come in a stack wrapped in cellophane and are mostly known for being a candy/sweet one gets from cheap/tight grown-ups on Hallowe(‘)en.

BrE speakers are often amused by and curious about the AmE candy/sweet name taffy, as here Taffy is a derogatory name for a Welshman. The word is a variation on toffee, which is what BrE speakers would call the stuff. You don’t want to go to the US and just start calling all toffees taffy, however. (Well, maybe you do want to, but you shouldn’t.) For me, taffy is reserved for pulled taffy, which is a light colo(u)r or white because it has been repeatedly pulled into strings and reshaped, and has a fruity or minty flavo(u)r. Anything else that is toffee in BrE, for example chewy caramels, would be toffee in my AmE dialect as well. (Note that salt water taffy, despite its name and the fact that it’s sold at the seaside, contains no sea water.)

Globali{s/z}ation means that the confectionery world is becoming smaller. I’ve already discussed some chocolate/candy bar names that have become more similar in the US and UK (click the Milky Way link above for the Marathon/Snickers story). Another source of UK resentment is that Opal Fruits changed their name to Starburst in 1998 to be in tune with the US brand. The confusing thing about this is that they’re not quite the same. UK Starbursts are paler than the US ones, and a bit different in consistency, since they’re vegetarian (the US ones contain gelatin). To my mind the worst part of this US name-imperialism is that the UK consumer gets the new name without the main benefit of US Starburst—the cherry-flavo(u)red one. UK Starburst has lime instead—but everyone knows that cherry is the best flavo(u)r.

British Vs American Food Names: Foods of different regions are influenced by historical activities, trade practices and most importantly, climatic conditions and availability.

So, it’s easier to learn about the different foods of British vs American names if illustrated properly with suitable definitions. Not to mention many differences can be classified in British vs American words, and a layperson can’t know all the specific terms in exception.

Study the most important English Vocabulary Words identified by our experts and learn the right vocabulary to use in your day to day conversations

The list below includes variations of American food names and British food names to make your concept clear. If visiting any place from these then the knowledge from here will allow you to enjoy food at both the places without being fooled.

Keeping this in mind, we have compiled a few names and have mentioned few differences in a list of American vs British Food vocabulary that will help you know about the same in detail.

List of American vs British Food Vocabulary

• Name of American vs British food Vocabulary words
• Description of American vs British food Vocabulary words on the list

Name of American vs British Food Vocabulary words

• Crisps
• Potato Chips
• Beet
• Beetroot
• Hot Sauce
• Chili Sauce
• Frosting
• Icing
• Dessert
• Pudding
• Shrimp
• Prawn
• Cookie
• Biscuits
• Eggplant
• Aubergine
• Zucchini
• Courgette
• Ham
• Gammon
• Maize
• Corn
• Spring Onions
• Green Onions
• Candy Sweets
• Eggy Bread
• French Toast
• Flan
• Fruit Pie
• Coriander
• Cilantro
• Cotton Candy
• Candy Floss
• Capsicum
• Bell Peppers
• Sausage
• Bangers
• Oatmeal
• Porridge
• Plonk Cheap
• Wine
• Fish Sticks
• Fish Fingers
• Soda
• Soft Drink

Description of the American vs British Food Vocabulary words on the list

Crisps

Crisps in the United States is a desert potato that has sweet toppings in it. It is a deep-fried potato made with very thin slices, which are eaten as a snack.

Potato Chips

potato chips are a deep-fried potato slice and occasionally mixed with some flavours to add seasonings; they are mostly eaten as snacks and are considered fast food.

Beet

beat in the United States is considered a red solvent plant and often used to make sugar or sugar contained dishes cooked with veggies.

Beetroot

Beetroot is very similar to a beat but specifically called this name in the United Kingdom, a red coloured root vegetable cooked with other additions also eaten in a pickled form.

Hot Sauce

Hot sauce is made with chillies, mostly with hot chillies; they are a little thin in texture. The major difference between them is that the others have a texture and hot sauce is comparatively not that dense.

Chili Sauce

chilli sauce is often mixed with other ingredients like vinegar capsicum tomato is; to make it more, they can also have chilly papers or fakes can be added to it. Chilli sauce has more flavour and texture to it and has different varieties.

Frosting

The frosting is done mostly in cupcakes or cakes and is called so in. The frosting is a thick fluffy batter made with sugar and other flavoured ingredients used to coat the layers of the cake.

Icing

Icing is often referred to and can act like frosting, but the major difference is that icing is much thinner and glossier than the other. It is often made with milk, sugar, juice for any other flavours.

Dessert

Any food item which has sweet content in it is supposed to be a desert. for Americans, a desert is anything that has sugar or any sweet component in it with a variation of cream and other flavours Vanilla, chocolate etc

Pudding

In Britain, the people of UK pudding is any dish that is supposedly not a desert but has sweet in it, which can be eaten both as a sweet and Savory dish. It often looks like a cake and has different icing of flavours to it.

Shrimp

A shrimp is a water fish that is small in size and has short legs and two pairs. The word shrimp is used in America and is used in most of the cousins of the same place. It is often cooked with curries and easy dinner side dishes with other food.

Prawn

Compared to shrimp, a prawn is larger, has large legs, and has three claws. Being large and part of large what is species people of UK more often referred to call it a prawn. A prawn is cooking in different ways can be roasted or made in a curry.

Cookie

As mostly called by this in British land, a cookie is delicate and has fresh ingredients compared to any other snack. It contains butter, sugar, and other ingredients that add flavour to the earth and cannot be preserved. This is often eaten in the form of a snack or with coffee and tea.

Biscuits

Biscuits, as in America, are a variety of bread that can be made with sugar and can be eaten as a Savory dish. It has a light texture and a thick crusty exterior; it can also be stored for a long time and be eaten with tea or coffee.

Eggplant

In the United States, people call a vegetable purple and has a round shape to weight and cylindrical as an eggplant as it resembles the size of an egg. Therefore, among the other means, people of the USA use this name more often.

Aubergine

It is a small round violet vegetable and is eaten with other vegetables if recently seen in a cylinder shape. In the UK, people often call this vegetable aubergine as they were not used to small vegetables around them and mistook them often with goose eggs.

Zucchini

zucchini is a small cylinder veggie plant that resembles a cucumber that grows in most parts of the world. It has a large size to it, and people of America call it zucchini; it can be big up to 20 cm and is called so in the United States.

Courgette

It is a part of a plant that has green veggies indigenous cylindrical shape to it. The difference between this and zucchini is that this is smaller in shape and a pre-developed vegetable. People of the UK more often call it Courgette.

Ham

Ham in American English means the pig’s leg piece or thigh piece around the buttocks. It is a salted, dry piece of meat preserved and processed, more precisely mechanically formed. It is a part of many dishes being high in protein.

Gammon

In the UK, people mostly call a piece of pig’s meat acquired from its leg or back a gammon. It can be smoked or cured like a bacon piece of meat. This type of food is often cooked and served during Christmas.

Maize

Maize in America is a cereal type plant that bears corn like seed corns, bay corns. It originated in America and is a staple food widely distributed around the world. It is often served by smoking or boiling with added seasonings.

Corn

Corn in the United Kingdom is a staple food. It comes from the maize plant, but here it is pronounced as corn; it is of many types like sweet corn, baby corn, regular corn. It is popular in the diet of British people.

Spring Onions

In British English, spring onion is an onion stem or tube eaten before it grows to a fully grown onion. It is mostly eaten as a garnish for many dishes, salads and also eaten raw with the stem.

Green Onions

Green onions, most popularly known by this name in America, are also known as scallions. It is a vegetable that almost tastes like an onion as it is a premature onion before forming the bulb. It is often eaten raw with salads or garnishes.

Candy

In America, candy is a fruit or nut coated with hard sugar or sugar syrup and has flavours. A candy is typically formed by boiling sugar confection, which becomes a hard preserved material and is popular among kids.

Sweets

British people call anything which is highly caramelized or done by a confection of sugar is called sweet., it can be of any ingredient, a small shaped item which has sugar content It can be called sweet.

Eggy Bread

Eggy bread is a typical homemade breakfast as named in Britain. It is an egg batter made with minimal seasonings in which a loaf of bread is dipped and fried. You can eat it with other additionals also.

French Toast

A slice of bread dipped in egg batter and then fried in medium heat is a common breakfast at many places. So the eggy bread is called french toast in America.

Flan

Flan is a type of cake with its base and sponge cake at the sides. It is an open pastry that is made inside a metal stand and batter paper. It can be a custard or of any other seasoning and is called so in America.

Fruit Pie

In Britain, fruit is a pastry made inside the tin, often filled with meat, fruit or cheese, any other fruit type. Does a pastry crust around it and has a layer of cake or sponge cake filling beside it to give the pastry and spongy texture.

Coriander

According to British English, coriander is a part of the parsley plant used as a herb or in many parts of the world to add flavour to culinary dishes. It has a strong scent and aromatic seeds to it, which has a flavour and also has medicinal qualities.

Cilantro

Cilantro is a more popular word in America, a green herb-like leaf used for medicinal and culinary activities. It has a strong smell and taste to it, which enhances the flavours of a dish.

Cotton Candy

American English cotton candy means a spun sugar usually of light colours like pink, white, blue or yellow and is tick to a cone or around the stick. It is a childish type word of cotton candy so that it becomes a popular snack among the kids.

Candy Floss

In Britain, a piece of candy floss is an item of refined sugar wrapped around the stick and has colours like blue, pink or white. It typically comes from the word flowers which means a piece of sugar and looks like a ball of wool.

Capsicum

In America, capsicum is a plant that has seeds inside it and is considered in the herb and shrubs category. It has a fleshy texture to it and is used as an extra at things to cook vegetables and is often used in salads.

Bell Peppers

Wallpaper is a part of the shrub plant category; it is of many types and colours like yellow, red and green. It is the same as capsicum but is called bell papers in the united kingdom’s and is not sweet like capsicums.

Sausage

sausage is an American word that means a type of cylindrical pork meat made with the mermaid’s internal organs stuffed into a thin line and has added seasonings. It is the main source of protein and other minerals which is popular in America.

Bangers

Bangles is the name of sources to which is prevalent in British English. This is a slice of minced pork made into a cylindrical shape and has seasonings to it; it is often eaten by smoked ways or in sandwiches and buns.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is a famous breakfast in the United States, and it is very handy and easier to make in the morning. This is formed by ground oats that You can eat with skimmed milk or even water and added fruits.

Porridge

In Britain, porridge is a type of ground OT, but of a different variety of both cakes it is smoked and can be eaten by mixing it with milk or any other fruit juice. They can be added nuts or fruits to increase their flavour.

Plonk Cheap

Plonk cheap in British English means a very cheap and low quality of wine. Plonk cheap is a type of wine that is not drunk by the upper class of society and has no good taste.

Wine

Wine is more prevalent in American English and is made by the extracts of grapes when processed. It can be of different qualities, both cheap and expensive.

Fish Sticks

a fish stick in British English means a small piece of fine fish that is marinated with season means and then coated with a battery and is deep-fried or grilled. It is a common snake in many parts of the world.

Fish Fingers

Fish finger in American English typically means a slice of fish which is as small as a finger size thoroughly seasoned and coated in a batter that has been fried or grilled. It is sold in frozen and also indirect cooking forms.

Soda

Soda is an American word that is a drink that contains water and carbonated sweetener or any artificial flavours. It often helps to clear acidity problems and is a widely consumed drink.

Soft Drink

Soft drink is a word more prevalent in British English, and it is a drink that has artificial flavours and sweetness to it. A soft drink is one of the widely consumed fast food globally, so many companies are engaged with it, which is very popular among youngsters and adults.