Standard Lemma guide

sorbet

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.

  • Canada, General-American: /sɔɹˈbeɪ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɔːbeɪ/
  • rhymes with -eɪ
  • rhymes with -ɔːbeɪ
  • CMU ARPABET: S AO2 R B EY1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: S AO1 R B EH0 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Frozen fruit juice, sometimes mixed with egg whites, eaten as dessert or between courses of a meal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • After dinner we had an orange sorbet that was very refreshing.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an ice containing no milk but having a mushy consistency; usually made from fruit juice

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: water ice

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: ice, frappe

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Arabic شَرِبَ (šariba)der. Arabic شَرْبَة (šarba)bor. Classical Persian شَرْبَت (šarbat)bor. Ottoman Turkish شربت (şerbet)bor. Italian sorbettobor. Middle French sorbetbor. English sorbet Borrowed from Middle French sorbet, borrowed from Italian sorbetto, borrowed from Ottoman Turkish شربت (şerbet), borrowed from Classical Persian شَرْبَت (šarbat), borrowed from Arabic شَرْبَة (šarba), from شَرِبَ (šariba). Doublet of sherbet and sharbat, related to syrup.

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: شَرْبَات مُثَلَّج (šarbāt muṯallaj) — frozen fruit juice
  • Azerbaijani: şərbət — frozen fruit juice
  • Bulgarian: шербе́т (šerbét) — frozen fruit juice
  • Bulgarian: сорбе́ (sorbé) — frozen fruit juice
  • Catalan: sorbet — frozen fruit juice
  • Catalan: xarrup — frozen fruit juice
  • Chinese Mandarin: 雪葩 (xuěpā) — frozen fruit juice
  • Chinese Mandarin: 雪芭 (xuěbā) — frozen fruit juice
  • Chinese Mandarin: 雪寶 /雪宝 (xuěbǎo) — frozen fruit juice
  • Chinese Mandarin: 雪酪 — frozen fruit juice
  • Finnish: sorbetti — frozen fruit juice
  • French: sorbet — frozen fruit juice
  • German: Sorbet — frozen fruit juice
  • Greek: σορμπέ (sormpé) — frozen fruit juice
  • Indonesian: sorbet — frozen fruit juice
  • Italian: sorbetto — frozen fruit juice
  • Japanese: シャーベット (shābetto) — frozen fruit juice
  • Japanese: ソルベ (sorube) — frozen fruit juice
  • Kannada: ಸಾರ್ಬೆ (sārbe) — frozen fruit juice
  • Korean: 셔벗 (syeobeot) — frozen fruit juice
  • Korean: 소르베 (soreube) — frozen fruit juice
  • Malayalam: സോർബെറ്റ് (sōṟbeṟṟŭ) — frozen fruit juice
  • Persian: سربی — frozen fruit juice
  • Polish: sorbet — frozen fruit juice
  • Portuguese: sorvete — frozen fruit juice
  • Spanish: sorbeto — frozen fruit juice
  • Swedish: sorbet — frozen fruit juice
  • Thai: ซอร์เบ — frozen fruit juice
  • Turkish: sorbet — frozen fruit juice