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Glite Dictionary
pinwheel roll

pinwheel roll

5.1
A sweet baked roll shaped like a pinwheel filled with jam and cinnamon sugar
  • noun
  • /ˈpɪnˌwiːl roʊl/
translation icon : rollo de canela
  • The bakery's pinwheel roll is filled with raspberry jam and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Examples

  • We enjoyed freshly baked pinwheel rolls with our morning coffee.

  • She brought a plate of pinwheel rolls to the party, and they disappeared quickly.

  • I baked a delicious pinwheel roll yesterday.

  • Have you ever tried a pinwheel roll?

  • The bakery's pinwheel roll is filled with raspberry jam and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

  • We enjoyed freshly baked pinwheel rolls with our morning coffee.

  • She brought a plate of pinwheel rolls to the party, and they disappeared quickly.

Synonyms

cinnamon bun
vspinwheel roll
8 1.3

A sweet rolled pastry baked with cinnamon and sugar, often with raisins

is often made with jam and cut into spiral wedges before baking
cinnamon roll
vspinwheel roll
5 1.0

A sweet baked roll of dough filled with cinnamon and sugar

is typically also spread with jam and cut into spiral wedges before baking
sweet roll
vspinwheel roll
4 1.1

A small sweet bread made with yeast, often with cinnamon, nuts, or glaze

is more specific, focusing on cinnamon sugar filling and often added jam
jelly roll
vspinwheel roll
  • US
1 3.5

A thin sponge cake spread with jam and rolled into a spiral

is made from yeast dough rather than sponge and emphasizes cinnamon sugar filling
coffee roll
vspinwheel roll
3.4

A sweet yeast roll often made with spices, raisins or nuts and served with coffee

is narrower, made with cinnamon sugar and often filled with jam before baking

How Sweet

sticky bun
  • US
5 1.3
pinwheel roll
5.1

Surface Forms

pinwheel roll singular
pinwheel rolls plural

Morphology

pinwheel + roll

The compound is compositionally transparent: 'pinwheel' signals a spiral/vaned shape and 'roll' denotes a rolled baked item, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a rolled pastry shaped like a pinwheel. Specific details (cinnamon, sugar, jam) are extra recipe information but the core meaning—the shape and type of baked good—is directly derivable from the constituents.

Etymology

Pinwheel roll gets its name from its shape: dough is spread with jam, cinnamon, and sugar and then rolled into a spiral that looks like a spinning pinwheel, and roll tells you it is a baked roll. So, the name means 'a sweet spiral pastry'.