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pud·ding

(pdĭng)

a. A sweet, soft dessert, often with a base of milk or cream thickened by flour, cornstarch, or a cereal product, that has been boiled, steamed, or baked: chocolate pudding; rice pudding.

b. An edible mixture with a soft, puddinglike consistency: corn pudding.

2. Chiefly British

a. A sweet dish eaten at the end of a meal; dessert.

b. A sausagelike preparation made with minced meat or various other ingredients stuffed into a bag or skin and boiled.

[Middle English poding, a kind of sausage, perhaps from Anglo-Norman bodin, sausage (compare Old French boudin), of unknown origin.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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