Etymology

spotted dick

Today it means: A steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit, usually currants; traditional in England. Full definition →

Old English dāg ← German dick
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. German · derived fromdick“thick, viscous”
  2. Old English · inherited fromdāg“dough”
  3. English todayspotted dick

Spotted refers to the dried fruits (that resemble spots). Dick is a dialectal term for "pudding". It may be related to dough, duff (meaning "dough" or "pudding") and Old English dāg (“dough”). Alternatively, it may be a corruption/contraction of the last syllable of pudding, or from German dick (“thick, viscous”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englishdāg all →

dough

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.