# candy

Pronunciation: US say "KAN-dee" /ˈkæn.di/; UK

## Noun

1. Sweet confectionery made with sugar or other sweeteners, often flavored with fruit, chocolate or nuts, or a single piece of it. *(Canada, Philippines, US)*
   - Simple: Sweet food made mostly of sugar or chocolate, or one piece of it.
   - _The shop stocks every kind of candy, from chocolate bars to fruit chews._
   - _Eating too much candy can rot your teeth._
4. Crack cocaine, the smokable freebase form of cocaine. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: Crack cocaine, an illegal and very addictive drug.
   - _Police seized a stash of candy during the night raid._
   - _On the street, candy sells for a few dollars a rock._

## Verb

2. To cook food in sugar syrup, or to coat it with syrup.
   - Simple: To cook or coat food in sugar syrup to make it sweet.
   - _Confectioners candy whole cherries for use in cakes._
   - _She likes to candy walnuts and scatter them over salad._
3. Of honey, syrup, or similar, to crystallize or harden into a sugary, candy-like mass.
   - Simple: Of honey or syrup, to turn hard and grainy with sugar crystals.
   - _Honey stored in a cool pantry will often candy within a few months._
   - _The preserves candied near the rim of the jar._

## Noun

5. A unit of weight formerly used in southern India, equal to twenty maunds, roughly 500 pounds but varying by locality. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An old unit of weight from southern India, about 500 pounds.

## Other meanings

- (noun) An accessory such as a bracelet made from pony beads, linked with the rave scene.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4** — The word goes back either to Sanskrit khaṇḍa ("piece, fragment, candied sugar"), from a root meaning "to break into pieces," or possibly to Proto-Dravidian *kaṇṭu (Tamil has a similar word, kaṇṭu, "hard candy"). From there it passed through Persian kand into Arabic qand ("rock candy") and the phrase sukkar qandī. That phrase became Old French sucre candi (literally "candied sugar") and then Middle English sugre candy.
**Meaning 5** — The Sanskrit root khaṇḍ ("to divide, break into pieces") produced khaṇḍana, which became Marathi khaṇḍī, the source of this word.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/candy (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).