pudding
n. C / Un. a sweet dish eaten at the end of a meal. In some countries, it can also mean a soft, creamy dessert or a specific savory dish.
n. a sweet dessert served as the final course of a meal; in British English, the term is often used generically for any dessert. It may also refer to a savory dish with a soft or spongy consistency.
We had chocolate pudding for dessert after dinner.
The children finished their vegetables quickly because they knew there was sticky toffee pudding waiting for them.
While the term typically refers to sweet desserts in modern parlance, traditional recipes like Yorkshire pudding or black pudding represent the word's historical savory origins.
From circa 1305, Middle English podynge (“kind of sausage; meat-filled animal stomach”), puddynge, from Old French boudin (“blood sausage, black pudding”), from Latin botellus (“sausage, small intestine”). Doublet of boudin. An alternative etymology assumes origin from Proto-Germanic put-, *pud- (“to swell”) (compare dialectal English pod (“belly”), Old English puduc (“wen, sore”), Low German puddig (“swollen”), Westphalian Puddek (“lump, pudding”), Puddewurst (“black pudding”). More at pout.
Uncountable when referring to the food substance in general; countable when referring to specific types or individual servings.