Hershey

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A small industrial town in southeastern Pennsylvania known for its chocolate factory ; a famous American candy maker whose products include milk chocolate bars and kisses
2. A community in south-central Pennsylvania built around a large confectionery plant ; a well-known American chocolate manufacturer making bars, syrups and baking products
3. An unincorporated town in Pennsylvania founded around a candy factory ; the American confectionery business that produces popular chocolate bars and treats

Etymology: Hershey, the name of the Pennsylvania town and the chocolate company, traces back to a Norman village rather than an American founder. The surname itself is thought to come from Hercé, a place in Normandy in northern France, and it was carried across the Atlantic by families who bore it. The name then passed to the Pennsylvania communities that bear it today, which were named after the Hershey Company. The company takes its name from its founder, Milton S. Hershey, the confectioner who built his chocolate business in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The town of Hershey, Pennsylvania grew around the company's factory, and other villages were later named in turn after the firm, so the word now points more to a chocolate maker than to a French village.