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Glite Dictionary
pop tart

pop tart

20 2.7
A thin sweet pastry with a fruit or chocolate filling that you heat in a toaster
  • noun
  • /pɑp tɑrt/
translation icon : Pop-Tart
  • He heated a Pop Tart in the toaster before heading to work.
  • eat Pop-Tarts
  • blueberry Pop-Tart
  • strawberry Pop-Tart

Oh man, this is some S'mores frosted pop Tarts.

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Examples

  • Many of their classmates eat Pop-Tarts and donuts for breakfast, McDonald's for lunch, and pizza for dinner.

    Blog text (19)

  • Every morning of her life, she ate a Pop-Tart and chocolate milk for breakfast and did not know it was unhealthy.

    Blog text (12)

  • You can have my Pop-Tart.

    Bumblebee (2018)

  • Brilliant idea to add Pop-Tarts to the list of emergency supplies.

    Blog text (9)

  • I think I still have some S'mores Pop Tarts if you want one.

    Dreaming of You (2024)

  • You sure you don't want a Pop-Tart?

    The Thinning (2016)

  • Putting down the milk, he opens the box, takes out two Pop Tarts, and puts them in the toaster.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • You want a Pop-Tart?

    The Thinning (2016)

  • Okay, I admit, I nuke my Pop-Tarts (when the occasion comes up that I have them).

    Blog text (12)

  • I brought S'mores Pop-Tarts.

    Dreaming of You (2024)

Surface Forms

pop tart singular
pop tarts plural

Morphology

pop + tart

The element 'tart' clearly signals a pastry, so a B1 learner who knows 'tart' will infer it refers to a kind of pastry. However, 'pop' is ambiguous here (brand-name/colloquial shortening) and does not transparently convey the specific properties (thin, filled, toaster-ready brand item), so the full sense is not predictable from the parts.

Etymology

The snack pop tart gets its name from two simple ideas: the word pop for how the pastry 'pops' out of a toaster and tart for a small pastry with a sweet filling. That's why pop tart today means a thin, sweet pastry people often heat in a toaster.