# chocolate

Pronunciation: say "CHOK-lit" US /ˈt͡ʃɔk.(ə.)lɪt/, UK /ˈt͡ʃɒk.(ə.)lɪt/; AUS say "CHOK-luht" /ˈt͡ʃɔk.(ə.)lət/

## Noun

1. A food made from ground, roasted cocoa beans, usually sweetened and shaped into bars or blocks.
   - Simple: A sweet brown food made from roasted, ground cocoa beans.
   - _The factory turns raw cocoa beans into chocolate by the ton._
   - _Dark chocolate contains more cocoa than the milk kind._
3. A single, small piece of confectionery made from or coated in chocolate.
   - Simple: A small piece of candy made from chocolate.
   - _Each chocolate in the box had a different filling._
   - _He picked out the dark chocolates first._
4. A beverage prepared by stirring chocolate into boiling water or milk until it dissolves.
   - Simple: A hot drink made by mixing melted chocolate into hot milk or water.
   - _After skating, we warmed up with mugs of hot chocolate and marshmallows._
   - _The café serves a thick Spanish-style chocolate in tiny cups._
6. The deep reddish brown of chocolate, also known as chocolate brown.
   - Simple: A dark reddish-brown color, like the color of chocolate.
   - _The designer chose a deep chocolate for the living room walls._
   - _Her eyes were a soft chocolate flecked with gold._
9. A Black person, especially one with dark skin. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A Black person, or a person with dark skin.

## Adjective

2. Made of or containing chocolate.
   - Simple: Made with chocolate or containing chocolate.
   - _The recipe calls for a chocolate sponge layered with cream._
   - _These chocolate cookies practically melt in your mouth._
5. Having a dark, reddish-brown color.
   - Simple: Having a dark reddish-brown color.
   - _The cabinet was stained a chocolate shade that matched the floor._
   - _He bred chocolate rabbits with thick, soft fur._
8. Black; relating to ethnic groups with dark skin pigmentation. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Describing a Black person or someone with dark skin.

## Verb

7. To add chocolate to a dish, or to coat a food in chocolate. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To cover food with chocolate, or add chocolate to it.
10. To treat blood agar by heating it so that the red blood cells in the medium are broken open. *(rare)*
   - Simple: To heat a special blood jelly used in labs until the red blood cells in it break apart.
   - _The lab chocolates the agar to culture bacteria that won't grow on standard plates._
   - _Microbiologists chocolate the medium to release growth factors trapped in the red cells._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A cat with a coat of rich chocolate brown.
- (noun) Blackness; the quality or state of having dark skin or being of Black ethnicity.

## Origin

English chocolate came via Spanish chocolate from a Nahuatl word, often given as chocolātl (whose second part reflects Classical Nahuatl ātl, "water"). Dakin and Wichmann suggest the original form was chicolātl, with chicol- referring to a special wooden stick used to prepare chocolate, while another theory traces the prefix to Yucatec Maya chocol ("hot").

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