pudding

pudding — noun

1. A sweet food that is usually served warm and prepared by baking or steaming a bl

1.nounB1
Definition

A sweet food that is usually served warm and prepared by baking or steaming a blend of ingredients, such as wheat flour, bread pieces, or cooked rice, together with dried fruit, sugar, and seasonings.

Example

Gita made a traditional Christmas pudding with dried fruit and brandy for the holiday dinner.

collocation: Christmas pudding

The café's sticky toffee pudding comes with a warm caramel sauce on top.

collocation: sticky toffee pudding

Common collocations
  • Christmas pudding
  • sticky toffee pudding
  • bread and butter pudding
  • rice pudding
  • steamed pudding
  • suet pudding
Synonyms
  • dessert

    generic term for the sweet course; pudding is one specific type of dessert

  • sweet

    British informal term for any dessert course

  • sponge

    a light, cake-like baked pudding, common in British English

Usage Note

Can be countable (a pudding, two puddings) or uncountable (some pudding). Many specific names exist: Christmas pudding, sticky toffee pudding, rice pudding, bread and butter pudding.

Common Mistakes

She ate pudding for dessert' (in US English, implying cold creamy type).
She ate a baked pudding for dessert
specify the type to avoid ambiguity between sense 1 (baked) and sense 2 (cold creamy).

2. A cold sweet dish with a creamy, smooth consistency, prepared by heating and set

2.nounB1
Definition

A cold sweet dish with a creamy, smooth consistency, prepared by heating and setting a liquid base of dairy milk together with sweetener, egg yolks, and flavourings such as cocoa or vanilla extract.

Example

Mira served bowls of cold chocolate pudding topped with whipped cream for the children.

collocation: chocolate pudding

On a hot day, Wei-Lun scooped vanilla pudding from a glass cup on the porch.

concrete scene: homemade vanilla pudding

Common collocations
  • chocolate pudding
  • vanilla pudding
  • butterscotch pudding
  • instant pudding
  • pudding mix
Synonyms
  • custard

    similar but typically thinner and eaten hot or cold; custard is a sauce, pudding is a set dessert

  • cream dessert

    generic term for any creamy chilled dessert; less specific than pudding

  • flan

    egg-based baked custard with caramel; firmer texture than pudding

  • mousse

    light and airy from whipped egg whites or cream; pudding is denser

Usage Note

This is the dominant meaning of 'pudding' in American English and many Asian contexts. In Britain, 'pudding' more broadly means any dessert course (sense 3), but this cold creamy type is still understood.

Common Mistakes

I made a Yorkshire pudding for dessert.
I made Yorkshire pudding to eat with roast beef.
Yorkshire pudding is a savoury dish (sense 4), not a sweet dessert.
This pudding is too watery because I didn't cook it long enough' (when referring to instant pudding).
This pudding hasn't set because I didn't let it chill for long enough.
Cold pudding needs time to thicken in the fridge.

3. The last sweet portion of a lunch or dinner; this is the British English word fo

3.nounB1
Definition

The last sweet portion of a lunch or dinner; this is the British English word for what American speakers call 'dessert'. Can refer to any sweet dish served at that point, not only pudding in the narrow sense.

Example

After the roast chicken, the waiter asked, 'Would anyone like pudding or cheese?'

question form: 'would anyone like pudding'

The school canteen serves pudding every Friday — usually cake, ice cream, or fruit crumble.

Common collocations
  • what is for pudding
  • have pudding
  • skip pudding
  • pudding menu
  • after pudding
Synonyms
  • dessert

    the standard term worldwide; 'pudding' is the British equivalent

  • sweet

    British informal; 'What's for sweet?' is common in casual speech

  • afters

    British informal, especially among older speakers

  • dessert course

    more formal term for the final course of a meal

Grammar Patterns

What's for + noun

Usage Note

Uncountable in this sense: 'What's for pudding?' not 'What's for a pudding?'. In American English, this usage does not exist — Americans use 'dessert' instead. A British person might say 'I don't want a starter, but I'll have pudding' — here 'pudding' refers to the course, not a specific dish.

Common Mistakes

What's for a pudding tonight?
What's for pudding tonight?
In this sense, pudding is uncountable (the course name).
I'd like pudding for dessert' (redundant).
I'd like pudding' or 'I'd like dessert.
In British English, pudding already means the dessert course.

4. A hot savoury dish made from a flour batter or pastry case, which either contain

4.nounB2
Definition

A hot savoury dish made from a flour batter or pastry case, which either contains meat and vegetables or is served on the side of a meat main course.

Example

Yorkshire pudding is a classic British side dish made from batter for roast beef.

collocation: Yorkshire pudding

The pub's steak and kidney pudding is wrapped in suet pastry and steamed for hours.

collocation: steak and kidney pudding

Common collocations
  • Yorkshire pudding
  • steak and kidney pudding
  • black pudding
  • suet pudding
  • beef pudding
Synonyms
  • suet pudding

    a specific type of savoury pudding made with suet pastry, often containing meat

  • batter pudding

    a pudding made from a thin flour-and-egg batter, like Yorkshire pudding

  • savoury pudding

    descriptive term; less common as a standalone name

Usage Note

Often requires a modifier to clarify the savoury nature (Yorkshire pudding, steak and kidney pudding, black pudding). Yorkshire pudding is a batter pudding that puffs up in the oven and is NOT sweet — a common point of confusion for learners expecting a dessert.

Common Mistakes

Yorkshire pudding is a sweet dessert eaten after the main meal.
Yorkshire pudding is a savoury side dish made from batter, served with roast beef.
The name 'pudding' misleads many learners into expecting a sweet dish.
Black pudding is a type of chocolate pudding.
Black pudding is a savoury blood sausage, common in British and Irish breakfasts.
Black pudding contains no chocolate.
Idioms

the proof of the pudding (is in the eating)

idiom

You can only judge whether something is good or effective by trying it or putting it to use, not by how it looks or sounds in theory.

Critics praised the new app's design, but the proof of the pudding is in how users actually interact with it.

The team's strategy looks good on paper, but the proof of the pudding will come when we see the sales figures next quarter.

over-egg the pudding

idiom

To spoil something by trying too hard to improve it or by adding unnecessary details, making it worse rather than better.

The director added too many special effects to the film and ended up over-egging the pudding.

Karim's speech was clear and honest, but he over-egged the pudding by telling three long jokes at the start.

Word family

  • pud
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/2

All four are cold, creamy desserts, but each has a different base and texture. Custard is a cooked mixture of milk, eggs, and sugar that can be thin enough to pour or thick enough to set; it is often eaten warm as a sauce rather than as a standalone set dessert. Flan is an egg-based custard baked with caramel sauce at the bottom, giving it a firmer, sliceable texture and a distinctive caramel flavour. Mousse is light and airy because egg whites or cream are whipped and folded in, creating bubbles throughout — unlike pudding, which is dense and spoonable. Panna cotta is an Italian dessert set with gelatine rather than eggs or starch, so it has a jiggly, wobbling texture that is firmer than pudding but softer than flan. For example, a chocolate pudding sits thickly on the spoon, a chocolate mousse feels almost foamy on the tongue, and a panna cotta trembles like jelly before melting in the mouth.

custardflanmoussepanna cotta

Common collocations

Nouns

  • Christmas pudding
  • rice pudding
  • chocolate pudding
  • bread pudding
  • Yorkshire pudding
  • black pudding
  • steak and kidney pudding
  • instant pudding
  • pudding basin
  • pudding recipe
  • pudding spoon

Phrases

Prepositions

  • pudding with + ingredient (e.g., pudding with custard)
  • pudding for + meal (e.g., pudding for dessert)

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

The word 'pudding' entered English from the Old French 'boudin', meaning a type of sausage. It originally referred to a savoury dish made by stuffing animal intestines with meat, suet, oats, and blood — what we now call black pudding or blood pudding. In medieval times, cooks would boil these mixtures in a cloth bag, and over time the term broadened to include any dish cooked by boiling or steaming in a bag, whether savoury or sweet. By the 17th century, sweet puddings made with flour, fruit, and sugar had become common, and the sweet meaning gradually overtook the original savoury one. In modern British English, 'pudding' can mean any dessert course, while the older savoury sense survives in specific dishes like Yorkshire pudding, steak and kidney pudding, and black pudding.