barley candy
- noun
- /ˈbɑrli ˈkændi/
- US
:
caramelo de cebada
- The clear, hard texture of the barley candy made it a favorite treat among the children at the festival.
Examples
-
During holidays, my grandmother would make beautiful barley candy in the shape of animals.
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She bought a bag of old-fashioned barley candy from the local market.
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Children enjoyed sucking on the colorful barley candy during the winter festival.
-
She bought some barley candy at the festival.
-
The children enjoyed barley candies during the party.
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During the holidays, my grandmother would make colorful barley candy shaped like festive ornaments.
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At the fair, I picked up a bag of delicious barley candy that reminded me of my childhood.
Synonyms
A hard clear candy often twisted into a stick
How Hard
- US
3
2.2
- US
15
1.9
37
1.3
32
1.0
106
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
barley + candy
A B1 learner who knows 'barley' and 'candy' will readily infer this is a kind or flavor of candy (i.e., a candy related to barley), so the basic category is compositional. However, the historical/lexicalized nature of the term (barley sugar/candy is typically made from boiled sugar rather than barley grain) means the precise referent and production method are not fully predictable, and the term functions as a conventionalized name rather than a strictly literal description.
Etymology
Barley candy comes from an old recipe that used water made from barley to boil sugar into a clear, hard candy. Because of that old method, people kept the name, so barley candy now means a clear, hard candy made from melted sugar.