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maple syrup

maple syrup

36 1.0
A sweet thick syrup made from maple tree sap used as a topping for pancakes and waffles
  • noun
  • /ˈmeɪpəl ˈsɪrəp/
translation icon : jarabe de arce
  • He always keeps a bottle of maple syrup handy for his French toast on weekends.
  • produce maple syrup
  • maple syrup production

I had pancakes and Maple syrup with bacon on the top.

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Examples

Synonyms

syrup
vsmaple syrup
203 1.0

Thick sweet liquid used to make food or drink taste better

is a specific sweet product made from tree sap rather than from dissolved sugar water
molasses
vsmaple syrup
28 5.1

A thick dark sweet liquid made by boiling sugar cane or beet juice

is made from tree sap rather than from cane or beet juice boiled in refining
corn syrup
vsmaple syrup
  • US
22 2.3

A sweet thick liquid made from corn that you use to make food sweeter and thicker

is made from tree sap rather than being produced from starch
chocolate syrup
vsmaple syrup
3 1.0

A sweet, thick chocolate sauce for pouring on desserts and mixing into drinks

is a natural sweet product made from tree sap rather than cocoa
sugar syrup
vsmaple syrup
1 1.8

A sweet liquid made by boiling sugar and water

is made from tree sap rather than by boiling sugar and water
golden syrup
vsmaple syrup
  • UK
1 3.4

A thick light brown syrup made from sugar for cakes and pancakes

is made from tree sap rather than from cane or beet sugar

How Sweet

honey
305 1.0
corn syrup
  • US
22 2.3
maple syrup
36 1.0
blackstrap
1 7.9

Surface Forms

maple syrup singular
maple syrups plural

Morphology

maple + syrup

The meaning 'a sweet, thick syrup made from the sap of maple trees' is transparently built from 'maple' (a tree) + 'syrup' (a thick sweet liquid), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer this compound noun's referent. This is a straightforward compositional noun–noun compound and similar constructions exist cross-linguistically (e.g., French 'sirop d'érable', Spanish 'jarabe de arce'), supporting immediate comprehension at B1.

Etymology

Maple syrup comes from a simple image: people tap a maple tree, collect the 'sap' that runs out in spring, and boil it down until it becomes a sweet syrup. That's why the words now mean the sweet, thick topping we put on pancakes.