Meanings
plural sweetmeats · alternative obsolete sweatmeat
- A sweet delicacy; a confection.
At the principal stations there are also separate Hindu and Mohemmedan refreshment rooms, and some mail trains have compartments reserved for Indian tea and sweetmeat vendors.
1950 February, W. Dendy, “Impressions of the Indian Railways—3”, in Railway Magazine, page 119 - informalSweetheart; darling.
“Hey, sweetmeat, where you been?” Farrengalli hollered.
2010, Scott Nicholson, The Gorge
Origin
- Old Englishswete mete
- Middle Englishswete-mete
- Englishsweetmeat
From Middle English swete-mete, from Old English swete mete. By surface analysis, sweet + meat (“food”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bengali মিষ্টান্ন
- মিষ্টান্ন (miśṭannō)sweet delicacy
Bulgarian бонбон
- бонбон (bonbon)sweet delicacy
Chinese Mandarin 甜點 /甜点, 糖果
- 甜點 /甜点 (tiándiǎn)sweet delicacy
- 糖果 (tángguǒ)sweet delicacy
- 甜食 (tiánshí)sweet delicacy
Dutch zoetigheid, suikerwaren
- zoetigheidsweet delicacy
- suikerwarensweet delicacy
Finnish makeinen
- makeinensweet delicacy
French friandise
- friandisesweet delicacy
German Süßigkeiten, Süßwaren
- Süßigkeitensweet delicacy
- Süßwarensweet delicacy
- Süßspeisensweet delicacy
Irish póirín guma
- póirín gumasweet delicacy
Latin cuppēdia, bellāria
- cuppēdiasweet delicacy
- bellāriasweet delicacy
Norwegian søtsaker
- søtsakersweet delicacy
Persian آفروشه, ویلانج
- آفروشه (âfruše)sweet delicacy
- ویلانج (vilânj)sweet delicacy
Portuguese guloseima
- guloseimasweet delicacy
Russian сла́дость
- сла́дость (sládostʹ)sweet delicacy
Spanish golosina, dulce
- golosinasweet delicacy
- dulcesweet delicacy
Swahili halua
- haluasweet delicacy
Swedish sötsak
- sötsaksweet delicacy
Tagalog kumpites
- kumpitessweet delicacy
Ukrainian со́лодощі
- со́лодощі (sólodošči)sweet delicacy
Cite this entry
sweetmeat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweetmeat
“sweetmeat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweetmeat. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sweetmeat,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sweetmeat.
Source: sweetmeat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.