cotton candy
25
1.0
- noun
- /ˈkɑtən ˈkændi/
- US
:
algodón de azúcar
- Walking down the aisle, away from him: a vendor carrying a tray of pink cotton candy.
- eat cotton candy
- buy cotton candy
- pink cotton candy
It makes me think of the smell of cotton candy or like a strawberry milkshake.
- It makes me think of the smell of cotton candy or like a strawberry milkshake.
- And I keep comparing the book to this video clip of the raccoon that finds cotton candy.
- And then I think we're going to just have like sparkling wine or champagne with the cotton candy.
- I can't even decide if I'm smelling like a little hint of cotton candy or maybe like frosting on a cake.
- They miss out on a lot of what a lot of kids get to enjoy as kids, trips to the fair and cotton candy and ice cream and all these different kinds of things.
Examples
-
Dad buys me a hot dog, a coke, cotton candy, and a Red Stick pennant.
Fiction book (1998) -
All these little kids running around with cotton candy on their face.
-
Get him some cotton candy.
-
I think it's too much cotton candy.
-
Let's go get some cotton candy.
-
ANGEL GROVE PARK - DAY 7: FAMILIES eat hot dogs and cotton candy at a huge fundraiser.
Fiction book (1995) -
They miss out on a lot of what a lot of kids get to enjoy as kids, trips to the fair and cotton candy and ice cream and all these different kinds of things.
-
She's at Navajo Fair eating fry bread and cotton candy, dancing the Two-Step with her boyfriend.
Fiction book (1994) -
At the carnival, children eagerly reached for sticks of cotton candy as they giggled with excitement.
-
The sweet smell of cotton candy filled the air at the fair, drawing in crowds of hungry visitors.
Synonyms
1
2.9
A light fluffy sweet made from spun sugar at fairs
1
4.6
Thin threads made from boiled sugar to decorate cakes
How Fluffy
- US
25
1.0
22
6.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective derives from the confection 'cotton candy' (spun sugar) and its conventional pale pink/ pastel appearance, so the colour sense is based on reference to that item rather than a literal composition of 'cotton' + 'candy'. A B1 learner who only knows the constituent words may not predict the specific pastel-pink colour without world knowledge of the sweet, so the relation is partially transparent but requires extra cultural/lexical knowledge.
Etymology
Cotton candy may come from the way hot sugar is spun into thin, fluffy threads that look like cotton and are eaten as candy at fairs. That's why the name fits the light, soft sweet we know today.