syrup

English

Etymology

From Middle English sirup, from Old French sirop, from Medieval Latin siruppus, syrupus, from Arabic شَرَاب‎ (šarāb, “a drink, beverage, wine, coffee, syrup”), from شَرِبَ‎ (šariba, “to drink”). Related to sorbet, sherbet.Compare French sirop, Italian siroppo, sciroppo, Spanish jarabe, jarope, Portuguese xarope, and Dutch siroop and stroop.

The first known use of the spelling sirup was in the 14th century.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɹ.əp/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɹ.əp/, /ˈsɝ.əp/
Audio (GA) (file)
Hyphenation: syr‧up
Rhymes: -ɪɹəp, -ɜɹəp

Noun

syrup (countable and uncountable, plural syrups)

Any thick liquid that has a high sugar content and which is added to or poured over food as a flavouring.
maple syrup
pancake syrup
peaches in syrup
- 1819, John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, OCLC 927360557, stanza XXX, page 98:
  With jellies soother than the creamy curd, / And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon; [...]
(by extension) Any viscous liquid.
cough syrup
rose syrup (rosewater)
(Cockney rhyming slang, shortened from "syrup of figs") A wig.

Alternative forms

sirop, sirup, syrop (all obsolete)

Derived terms

glucose syrup
golden syrup
maple syrup
palm syrup
simple syrup
sizzurp
syrup of figs
syrupy

Descendants

→ Tsonga: sirapu
→ Zulu: isiraphu

Translations

thick liquid that has a high sugar content

Afrikaans: stroop
Albanian: shurup (sq) m
Arabic: شَرَاب‎ m (šarāb)
Egyptian Arabic: شربات‎ m (šarbat)
Hijazi Arabic: شيرة‎ f (šīra)
Armenian: մրգահյութ (hy) (mrgahyutʿ)
Belarusian: сіро́п m (siróp)
Bengali: শীরা (bn) (śīra)
Bulgarian: сиро́п m (siróp)
Catalan: xarop (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 糖漿／糖浆 (zh) (tángjiāng), 果子露 (zh) (guǒzilù)
Czech: sirup (cs) m
Danish: sirup
Dutch: stroop (nl), siroop (nl) m
Esperanto: siropo
Estonian: siirup
Faroese: siropur m
Finnish: siirappi (fi), sokeriliemi
French: sirop (fr) m
Georgian: სიროფი (siropi)
German: Sirup (de) m
Greek: σιρόπι (el) n (sirópi)
Ancient: σίραιον n (síraion)
Haitian Creole: siwo
Hebrew: סִירוֹפּ‎ (he) m (siróp)
Hindi: शर्बत (hi) f (śarbat), चाशनी (hi) f (cāśnī), अर्क़ m (arq), रस (hi) m (ras)
Hungarian: szirup (hu)
Icelandic: síróp n
Irish: síoróip f
Italian: sciroppo (it) m
Japanese: シロップ (ja) (shiroppu), 糖蜜 (とうみつ, tōmitsu)
Kazakh: шәрбат (şärbat)
Khmer: ស៊ីរ៉ូ (siirou)
Korean: 시럽 (ko) (sireop)
Kyrgyz: сироп (ky) (sirop), шарбат (şarbat)
Ladino:
Hebrew: שארופי‎ m
Ladino: sharope m
Latin: sapa f
Latvian: sīrups m
Lithuanian: sirupas m
Luxembourgish: Sirro m
Macedonian: сируп m (sirup)
Malay: sirap
Navajo: dáʼákaz bitooʼ
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sirup (no) m
Pashto: شربت‎ (ps) m (šarbát)
Persian: شیره‎ (fa) (šire), شربت‎ (fa) (šarbat)
Polish: syrop (pl) m
Portuguese: xarope (pt) m
Romanian: sirop (ro) n
Russian: сиро́п (ru) m (siróp)
Scots: seerup
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: сируп m
Roman: sirup (sh) m
Slovak: sirup m
Slovene: sírup (sl) m
Spanish: almíbar (es) m, jarabe (es) m, sirope m
Swahili: asali (sw)
Swedish: sirap (sv)
Tagalog: harabe (tl)
Tajik: шарбат (tg) (šarbat), сироп (tg) (sirop)
Thai: น้ำเชื่อม (th) (nám-chʉ̂ʉam)
Turkish: şurup (tr)
Turkmen: şerbet, sirop
Ukrainian: сиро́п m (syróp)
Urdu: چاشنی‎ f (cāśnī)
Uzbek: sharbat (uz), sirop (uz)
Vietnamese: xi-rô (vi)
Yiddish: סיראָפּ‎ m (sirop), סירופּ‎ m (sirup)

Verb

syrup (third-person singular simple present syrups, present participle syruping, simple past and past participle syruped)

(transitive) To convert or process into syrup.
(transitive) To add syrup to.
(transitive) To sabotage (a vehicle) by pouring syrup into the gas tank.

Anagrams

pursy