What does "dessert" mean?

1. (sweet course) a sweet dish that you eat at the end of a meal.

How do you use "dessert"?

Can be used as both a countable and uncountable noun.

Is it correct to say "The Sahara is a large dessert."?

No — say "The Sahara is a large desert.". Do not confuse 'dessert' (sweet food) with 'desert' (dry land). Remember that you want two helpings of dessert, so it has two 's's.

dessert

US //dɪˈzɝt// UK //dɪzˈɜːt// dessert

1 sweet course (n.)
A2 Elementary Cooking

a sweet dish that you eat at the end of a meal.

the final course of a meal, usually consisting of sweet confections, fruit, or cheese.

Example

For dessert, we had warm apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Example

The restaurant is famous for its elaborate dessert menu, featuring everything from seasonal fruit tarts to rich chocolate fondants.

Usage

Can be used as both a countable and uncountable noun.

Teacher's tip

In British English, 'pudding' or 'sweet' are often used as informal synonyms for this course.
- pudding
- sweet
- afters
- starter
- appetizer
Pitfall

The Sahara is a large dessert.

The Sahara is a large desert.

Do not confuse 'dessert' (sweet food) with 'desert' (dry land). Remember that you want two helpings of dessert, so it has two 's's.

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French dessert, from desservir (“disserve”), from dés- (“dis-”) and servir (“serve”), thus literally meaning “removal of what has been served”. Note: It was erroneously suggested (e.g. in "Glucose syrups: Technology and Applications" (Peter Hull, 2010)) that the word is derived from the name of Benjamin Delessert, the inventor of beet sugar. However, the term predates him by at least a century.