Caramel

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ˈkæɹ.É™.mÉ›l/, /ˈkæɹ.É™.mÉ™l/ or IPA: /ˈkɑɹ.mÉ™l/
• UK IPA: /ˈkæɹəmÉ›l/
• Aus IPA: /'kæɹəmÉ™l/

Origin

Borrowing from fr {{2}} caramel.

Full definition of caramel

Noun

1. A smooth, chewy, sticky confection made by heating sugar and other ingredients until the sugars polymerize and become sticky.
2. A (sometimes hardened) piece of this confection.
3. A yellow-brown color.

Usage notes

Both the two syllable and the three syllable pronunciations are very common in all regions of the United States, but the trisyllabic pronunciation is more common than the disyllabic one in the South (excluding western Texas), northern New Jersey, eastern New York and New England, while the disyllabic one is more common than the trisyllabic one in other regions.

Dialect Survey map 1, showing that both pronunciations are common in all regions, and map 2, showing which regions the di- and tri-syllabic pronunciations predominate in

Derived terms

• caramelise, caramelize

Anagrams

• ceramal
• maceral
• reclama