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Glite Dictionary
spun sugar

spun sugar

1 4.6
Thin threads made from boiled sugar to decorate cakes
  • noun
  • /spʌn ˈʃʌɡər/
translation icon : azúcar hilado
  • "Goatsbeard!" he yelled at a tall weed with a silver head that looked like spun sugar.

Examples

  • The chef skillfully crafted a sculpture out of spun sugar that amazed all the guests.

  • It's nothing but spun sugar and boot black.

    A Knight's Tale (2001)

  • "A professional magician's coming, and after that we're having a cake with a whole ballet scene on top in spun sugar."

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Threads of spun sugar floated past his nose, and he stuck out his lower lip and blew upward.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Nelson's pink beard looks like spun sugar, and for a moment, I remember being a child, wanting to go to the circus and buy cotton candy.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Her mother even took Dina to the Mala Strana at Christmas to see the pastry angels with their wings of spun sugar set out in the windows of the bakery shop, the quaint customs of the Christians.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The cake was beautifully decorated with delicate threads of spun sugar on top.

  • For her birthday, she ordered a dessert that featured a crown of spun sugar surrounding the cake.

Synonyms

candy
vsspun sugar
  • US
863 1.0

A small sweet made from sugar, often with chocolate or nuts

refers specifically to thin sugar threads formed by heating and spinning sugar
cotton candy
vsspun sugar
  • US
25 1.0

A light, fluffy sweet made from spun sugar on a stick

is more often used to decorate desserts with fine sugar threads
candyfloss
vsspun sugar
  • UK
1 2.9

A light fluffy sweet made from spun sugar at fairs

is used mainly to decorate desserts rather than being sold at fairs

Surface Forms

spun sugar singular
spun sugars plural

Morphology

spin + sugar

The phrase is compositionally built from 'spun' (past participle of 'spin') + 'sugar' and literally denotes sugar that has been spun into fine threads; a B1 learner who knows both words can infer this process and resulting confection. The past-participle+noun pattern and the physical, non-idiomatic meaning make the expression straightforward and cross-linguistically transparent.

Etymology

The noun spun sugar comes from the way cooks 'spin' melted sugar into thin threads that look like a web or a nest. That's why the name describes the sweet decoration made of many fine strands.