Standard Lemma guide

aspartame

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /əˈspɑːteɪm/
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈæspɚˌteɪm/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AE1 S P ER0 T EY2 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An artificial sweetener, the methyl ester of a dipeptide formed from aspartic acid and phenylalanine, used in many processed foods and beverages.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an artificial sweetener made from aspartic acid; used as a calorie-free sweetener

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: sweetening, sweetener

History

Etymology

Commercial name, from aspartic. The -ame is perhaps because aspartame is an amide. Compare aspartamine.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Danish: aspartam — artificial sweetener
  • Dutch: aspartaam — artificial sweetener
  • Finnish: aspartaami — artificial sweetener
  • Galician: aspartame — artificial sweetener
  • Galician: aspartamo — artificial sweetener
  • German: Aspartam — artificial sweetener
  • Italian: aspartame — artificial sweetener
  • Japanese: アスパルテーム (asuparutēmu) — artificial sweetener
  • Dari: اَسْپَرْتیم (aspartēm) — artificial sweetener
  • Dari: اَسْپَارْتیم (aspārtēm) — artificial sweetener
  • Iranian Persian: آسْپارْتام (âspârtâm) — artificial sweetener
  • Polish: aspartam — artificial sweetener
  • Portuguese: aspartame — artificial sweetener
  • Spanish: aspartamo — artificial sweetener
  • Swedish: aspartam — artificial sweetener
  • Turkish: aspartam — artificial sweetener