Lozenge

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈlɒz.ɪnd͡ʒ/

Definitions

1. A small flavored tablet designed to dissolve slowly in the mouth for soothing throats or delivering medicine, a diamond-shaped decorative emblem used in heraldry, or a planar figure with four equal sides arranged as a tilted square
2. A medicated or sweetened tablet meant to be sucked for relief or oral hygiene, a diamond-like shape commonly found in patterns or designs, and a quadrilateral with equal-length sides set at an angle resembling a tilted square
3. A small tablet intended to dissolve in the mouth and provide medicinal or soothing effects ; a decorative symbol shaped like a tilted square often used in coats of arms ; a flat four-sided figure where all sides are the same length and the shape is tilted

Etymology: The diamond-shaped figure that gives "lozenge" its meaning is older than the sweet. Medieval Europeans used the word for a rhombus, a flat four-sided shape with equal sides, and it was borrowed into Middle English from Old French "losenge," which carried the same geometric sense. Heraldry made the shape famous: coats of arms used lozenges as a distinctive field pattern, and the same diamond later appeared on playing cards and in window glass. The sweet came later, from the lozenge's shape rather than from any change of meaning in the word itself. A small flat tablet of medicine or sugar, cut into a diamond, was a familiar form, and the name for the shape transferred to the confection. The source does not fix the date of that transfer, and the origin of the Old French word itself is uncertain, so it is unclear where the diamond idea first came from.

Synonyms: tablet, pastille, cough drop, medication, sore throat remedy