- also sher·bert (-bûrt') A frozen dessert made primarily of fruit juice, sugar, and water, and also containing milk, egg white, or gelatin.
- Chiefly British. A beverage made of sweetened diluted fruit juice.
- also sherbert Australian. An alcoholic beverage, especially beer.
[Ottoman Turkish, sweet fruit drink, from Persian sharbat, from Arabic šarba, drink, from šariba, to drink.]
WORD HISTORY Although the word sherbet has been in the English language for several centuries (it was first recorded in 1603), it has not always referred to what one normally thinks of as sherbet. Sherbet came into English from Ottoman Turkish sherbet or Persian sharbat, both going back to Arabic šarba, "drink." The Turkish and Persian words referred to a beverage of sweetened, diluted fruit juice that was popular in the Middle East and imitated in Europe. In Europe sherbet eventually came to refer to a carbonated drink. Because the original Middle Eastern drink contained fruit and was often cooled with snow, sherbet was applied to a frozen dessert (first recorded in 1891). It is distinguished slightly from sorbet, which can also mean "a fruit-flavored ice served between courses of a meal." Sorbet (first recorded in English in 1585) goes back through French (sorbet) and then Italian (sorbetto) to the same Turkish sherbet that gave us sherbet.
