Doughnut

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈdəʊˌnʌt/

Definitions

1. A sweet, ring-shaped fried pastry, typically made from dough and often glazed or topped with icing and sprinkles
2. A circular pastry that is deep-fried to achieve a soft and sweet texture, usually adorned with frosting or toppings and often served as a dessert treat
3. A fried confection shaped like a ring that is soft on the inside, typically sweetened and sometimes coated with sugar or icing to enhance flavor

Etymology: Washington Irving's "Knickerbocker's History of New York" (1809) is the first recorded appearance of "doughnut," a satirical history in which the Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam are the butt of the joke. The word itself is a plain compound of "dough" and "nut," and the "nut" part is the puzzle. Early doughnuts were small, nut-sized balls of fried dough, which would explain the name, but the more likely source is an older sense of "nut" meaning a small rounded cake or cookie. The ring shape came later. The familiar hole through the middle became common only in the twentieth century, so the name was already in use for centuries before the pastry looked the way it does today. The word has been carrying a description that no longer fits the object it names.

Synonyms: donut, pastry, sweet, treat, confection