Friedcake

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small cake of sweet dough that has been deep fried in oil until golden and crisp on the outside
2. A bite-sized piece of sweetened batter cooked by immersing it in hot oil until it turns golden brown
3. A sweet, round or ring-shaped dough treat that is fried rather than baked, often dusted with sugar

Etymology: A fried cake is about as transparent as English compounds get: "fried" plus "cake," a plain description of a cake cooked in hot fat rather than baked in an oven. The "fried" part comes from the past participle of "fry," which entered English from Old French "frire," itself from Latin "frigere," meaning to roast or fry. The "cake" half traces back through Old Norse "kaka," a flat bread or cake, which entered English during the Viking-age contact with Scandinavian settlers. The compound sits within a family of descriptive food names built the same way, such as "fried chicken" or "fried egg," where the cooking method is placed before the food. Its meaning is therefore literal throughout, with no shift from an earlier sense.

Synonyms: doughnut, donut, fritter