Lollypop

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A hard candy or sugary sweet attached to a small stick, meant to be licked or sucked
2. A confectionery treat consisting of flavored sugar formed around a stick for easy consumption
3. A sweet, often brightly colored candy mounted on a stick designed for sucking or licking

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "lollipop" is that its earliest sense may have had nothing to do with a stick. Its first recorded use dates to 1784, and the word seems to have named a small, cheap sweet of the kind now called penny candy, sold without any handle at all. The stick came later, as the form became popular. The word is built from ordinary English pieces, though the sum is hard to pin down. On the surface it looks like "loll" (to laze or hang loose), plus "y", plus "pop" (a quick burst or try). Many etymologists, though, think the first part more likely came through "lolly", an older slang word for the head or tongue, since the sweet is licked at length. Words such as "lollygag" show the same loll-type pattern of idle, drawn-out motion. A tempting rival story links the word to Romani "loli" (red) and "phabaj" (apple), supposedly because candy apples are red and skewered on sticks. It fails on dates: candy apples were not well known until about a century after "lollipop" first appeared, so the apple cannot be the source.

Synonyms: candy, sucker, sweet, treat, confection