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Glite Dictionary
crystallized fruit

crystallized fruit

3.4
Fruit cooked in sugar syrup and coated with sugar
  • noun
  • /ˈkrɪstəlˌaɪzd frut/
  • US
translation icon : fruta cristalizada
  • Have you tried crystallized fruits from France?

Examples

  • The crystallized fruit glistened on the bakery display, tempting customers to try a piece.

  • She decorated the cake with crystallized fruit for a festive touch.

  • Recipes often call for crystallized fruit in traditional holiday puddings.

  • I love crystallized fruit in my desserts.

  • I love adding crystallized fruit to my homemade trail mix for extra sweetness.

  • The cake was beautifully decorated with crystallized fruit that added a colorful touch.

  • During the holidays, we often serve crystallized fruit as a sweet treat alongside other desserts.

Synonyms

candied fruit
vscrystallized fruit
1 2.7

Fruit cooked in sugar syrup and coated in sugar for a sweet treat

is the same preserved fruit but named differently emphasizing crystal coating
succade
vscrystallized fruit
  • Archaic
9.9

Pieces of fruit cooked and coated with sugar to decorate cakes

is the general preserved fruit form rather than only decorative pieces
glace
vscrystallized fruit
7.7

Fruit or nuts coated in sugar syrup to preserve and sweeten them

is preserved by cooking and then coated specifically with sugar crystals

How Sugared

crystallized fruit
  • US
3.4
preserve
10 2.6
dried fruit
7 1.0

Surface Forms

crystallized fruit singular
crystallized fruits plural

Morphology

crystallized + fruit

The noun phrase is directly compositional: 'crystallized' describes the state of being coated or preserved with sugar crystals and 'fruit' names the item, so the combined meaning (fruit preserved/coated with sugar) is inferable from the parts. This follows a regular adjective+noun pattern and has clear cross-linguistic parallels, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily understand it.

Etymology

Crystallized fruit comes from how cooks treat the fruit in sugar: they boil it in syrup until the sugar dries into tiny crystals on the surface, so the crystallized fruit looks like it is covered in little sugar gems. That's why 'crystallized fruit' means fruit 'preserved' by sugar crystals and kept for a long time.