confection

confection

English

Etymology

From Middle English confescioun, borrowed from Old French confeccion (French confection), borrowed from Latin cōnfectiōnem, from confectus, past participle of conficere (“prepare”), from com- (“with”) + facere (“to make, do”). Originally "the making by means of ingredients"; sense of "candy or light pastry" predominant since 1500's.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈfɛkʃən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

confection (plural confections)

1. A food item prepared very sweet, frequently decorated in fine detail, and often preserved with sugar, such as a candy, sweetmeat, fruit preserve, pastry, or cake.

   The table was covered with all sorts of tempting confections.

2. The act or process of confecting; the process of making, compounding, or preparing something.
3. The result of such a process; something made up or confected; a concoction.

   The defense attorney maintained that the charges were a confection of the local police.

4. (dated) An artistic, musical, or literary work taken as frivolous, amusing, or contrived; a composition of a light nature.
5. (dated) Something, such as a garment or a decoration, that is very elaborate, delicate, or luxurious, usually also impractical or non-utilitarian.
   • 2007, Susan Sizemore, Primal Desires:

     She found a sexy, lacy confection in a lingerie drawer and quickly slipped into it.

6. (pharmacology) A preparation of medicine sweetened with sugar, honey, syrup, or the like; an electuary.

Related terms

• confect
• confectionary
• confectionery
• confectioner
• confectioners' sugar

Translations

food item

Afrikaans: suikergoed Albanian: ëmbëlsirë (sq) Arabic: حَلْوَى‎ f (ḥalwā) Bulgarian: сладкиш (sladkiš), бонбон (bonbon) Chinese: Mandarin: 糖果 (zh) (tángguǒ), 蜜餞／蜜饯 (zh) (mìjiàn), 糖食 (zh) (tángshí) Danish: godbid Dutch: suikergoed (nl) Finnish: makeat herkut pl; makeinen (fi) (candy); leivos (fi) (pastry); kakku (fi) (cake) French: confection (fr) f, bonbon (fr) m Galician: doce (gl) m Georgian: ტკბილეულობა (ṭḳbileuloba) German: Konfekt (de) n, Bonbon (de) m or n Greek: γλύκισμα (el) n (glýkisma) Ancient: γλύκυσμα n (glúkusma) Hungarian: édesség (hu) Indonesian: olahan gula Irish: milseog (ga) f, sólas m, sócamas m Italian: dolce (it) m, pasticcino (it) m Japanese: お菓子 (ja) (おかし, okashi), コンフェクション (konfekushon) Korean: 과자 (ko) (gwaja) Malay: gula-gula (ms), کونفيکسي‎ (konfeksi) Norwegian: konfekt m Polish: słodycze (pl) pl Portuguese: confeito (pt) m Russian: сла́дости (ru) f pl (sládosti), конфе́ты (ru) f pl (konféty), конди́терские изде́лия n pl (kondíterskije izdélija), сла́сти (ru) f pl (slásti) Sanskrit: गौड (sa) n (gauḍa) Spanish: golosina (es) f, dulce (es) m, confite (es) m Swedish: konfekt (sv) c, sötsak (sv) c Tagalog: matamis (tl) Turkish: şekerleme (tr), konfeksiyon (tr) Westrobothnian: gonätär f pl, gódt f or n

Verb

confection (third-person singular simple present confections, present participle confectioning, simple past and past participle confectioned)

1. To make into a confection, prepare as a confection.

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French

Etymology

From Old French confeccion, borrowed from Latin cōnfectiōnem.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

confection f (plural confections)

1. making, creation, development, confection

   L'emplacement standard pour la confection d'une fistule A-V est l'avant-bras non-dominant des patients.

   The standard entry point for the creation of an arteriovenous fistula is on a patient's non-dominant forearm.

2. ready-to-wear clothing
3. the ready-to-wear clothing industry

Descendants

• → Polish: konfekcja
• → Turkish: konfeksiyon

Further reading

• “confection”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.