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”). Doublet of sirop. Related to sorbet, sherbet, sharbat. 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): /ˈsɪ.ɹəp/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɹ.əp/, /ˈsɝ.əp/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪ.ɹəp/
  • (Dublin) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪ.ɹəp/, /ˈsɪ.ɾəp/

  • Audio (General American); /ˈsɪɹ.əp/:

    (file)

• Hyphenation: syr‧up
• Rhymes: -ɪɹəp, -ɜːɹəp

Noun

syrup (countable and uncountable, plural syrups)

1. Any thick liquid that has a high sugar content and which is added to or poured over food as a flavoring.

   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, stanza XXX, page 98:

     With jellies soother than the creamy curd, / And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon; [...]

2. (by extension) Any viscous liquid.

   cough syrup

   rose syrup (rosewater)

3. (figurative) Anything overly sweet or sentimental.
   • 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 266:

     Eventually, he or his staunch public tired of his easy-listening syrup, so Price recorded gospel for the Myrrh label before semi-retiring to his Golden Cross Ranch in Texas.

4. (Cockney rhyming slang, shortened from "syrup of figs") A wig.

Alternative forms

• sirop, sirup, syrop (all obsolete)

Derived terms

• bar syrup
• bucket of syrup
• Canadian as maple syrup
• cane syrup
• coffee syrup
• corn syrup
• cough syrup
• glucose-fructose syrup
• glucose syrup
• golden syrup
• green syrup
• high fructose corn syrup
• high-fructose corn syrup
• high-fructose maize syrup
• maize syrup
• maple syrup
• maple syrup urine disease
• palm syrup
• pancake syrup
• refiner's syrup
• rose syrup
• simple syrup
• sizzurp
• snail syrup
• sorghum syrup
• syrup of figs
• syrup of ipecac
• syrupy

Descendants

• → Gujarati: સીરપ (sīrap)
• → Hebrew: סירופ (siróp)
• → Japanese: シラップ (shirappu)
• → Korean: 시럽 (sireop)
• → Marshallese: jurub
• → Tsonga: sirapu
• → Welsh: surop, syrop, syrup, syryp
• → 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) (mrgahyutʻ) Belarusian: сіро́п m (siróp) Bengali: শীরা (bn) (śira) Bulgarian: сиро́п m (siróp) Catalan: xarop (ca) m Chinese: Cantonese: 糖漿 / 糖浆 (tong4 zoeng1) 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 (ja) (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 Scottish Gaelic: siorap f 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, arrope (es) 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)

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

Anagrams

• pursy

Welsh

Noun

syrup m (uncountable, not mutable)

1. alternative form of surop (“syrup”)

Further reading

• D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “syrup”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh–English Dictionary, Gwerin
• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “syrup”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies