Comfits

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A confection that features a sugary coating on ingredients such as fruits, nuts, or seeds prepared for a sweet treat
2. A sweet delicacy created by enrobing various nuts or fruits in a hard or crunchy sugar layer
3. Small sweets made by covering fruit, seeds, or nuts with a thick sugar shell

Etymology: Before the word meant a sweet, it meant something made by putting things together and working them into shape. The Latin "cōnfectum" came from "cōnficere," to make up or prepare, and it passed into Old French as "confit," meaning preserved fruit. English took that French form and the plural now in front of us is simply the English rendering of a dish that the French had already named for its preserving process. The word has siblings that look quite different. "Confect," "confetto" in Italian, "confit" in French, and "konfyt" in Dutch and German-speaking regions all descend from the same Latin root and share the same core idea of something made and sweetened. Each language adopted the word in its own form, so a single ancient verb has produced a family of sweets and sugary preserves across Europe.

Synonyms: confection, sweet