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chewing gum

chewing gum

25 1.0
A sweet piece you chew to freshen your breath but do not swallow
  • noun
  • /ˈtʃuːɪŋ ɡʌm/
translation icon : chicle
  • After finishing my lunch, I always enjoy a piece of chewing gum to freshen my breath.
  • use chewing gum
  • children using chewing gum
  • such as chewing gum

Does anyone else out there love chewing gum so much?

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Examples

  • Every time you made a deposit, he'd give you a piece of Bazooka chewing gum.

  • I just bought a case of chewing gum at Costco to feed my restless jaw.

    Blog text (25)
  • Does anyone else out there love chewing gum so much?

  • Would you like to buy a chewing gum?

  • How about some chewing gum?

  • Here is your chewing gum.

  • I always use chewing gum on these rides.

  • What's with the chewing gum?

  • The case involved two competing chewing gum companies using baseball cards with major league player images to promote their products.

    Academic text (2016)
  • "You'd better spit out that chewing gum before you go," Akira says, clicking his computer mouse.

    Fiction book (1996)

Synonyms

gum
vschewing gum
271 1.0

A sweet, flavored piece you chew to freshen breath or for fun

focuses on being a manufactured preparation rather than a general substance
bubble gum
vschewing gum
14 1.0

A sweet chewing gum that you can blow into bubbles

is the general flavored product not made for bubble blowing
piece of gum
vschewing gum
9 1.0

A small chewy piece of candy you chew once

is the full product concept rather than a single serving

How Chewy

chewing gum
25 1.0
bubble gum
14 1.0
taffy
  • US
16 4.2
gumdrop
  • US
11 1.7

Surface Forms

chewing gum singular
chewing gums plural

Morphology

chewing + gum

The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'chewing' (the action of grinding in the mouth) with 'gum' (a sweetened, flavored material for chewing); together they unambiguously denote gum intended for chewing. This noun–noun/compound pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the phrase.

Etymology

Chewing gum comes from the old habit of chewing a sticky gum made from tree sap and 'not swallowing' it. That's why today chewing gum means a sweet, flavored piece you chew for fresh breath or taste, not to eat.