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What is the difference between sweets and candy?
A British child asks for sweets, an American child asks for candy, and an Australian child asks for lollies. They all want the same thing. Here is where the words come from and where they overlap.
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There is no real difference between sweets and candy. They are two words for the same thing, used in different parts of the English speaking world. The trade calls the whole category sugar confectionery, a term that covers boiled sweets, jellies, chocolates, chewing gum and more.
Who says what
- Candy is the everyday word in the United States and Canada.
- Sweets is the everyday word in the UK, Ireland and a number of other countries.
- Lollies is the everyday word in Australia and New Zealand.
In the UK, a lolly usually means a lollipop or an ice lolly rather than sweets in general. Within Britain there are regional words too, such as sweeties in Scotland and kets in the North East: see what people call sweets around Britain and why are sweets called ket?
Where candy comes from
The word candy came into English from the Old French çucre candi, meaning sugar candy. The French may have earlier roots in the Arabic qandi, the Persian qand and the Sanskrit khanda, all words for sugar. Khanda was the name for the pieces of sugar made by boiling sugarcane juice in ancient India, where sugarcane is native. If so, candy is at heart a word for sugar that travelled from India to Europe.
Where sweets comes from
Sweets is short for sweetmeats. A sweetmeat, from the Old English swete mete, is a sweet delicacy or confection, and the meat in it simply means food, not flesh. Dictionaries today define a sweet as a confection made from sugar, or high in sugar, used especially in the UK: see why do the British call them sweets?
Candy in British English
Britain has not dropped the word candy altogether. It survives in a handful of fixed names:
- Candy floss, the spun sugar Americans call cotton candy. It is sold as candy floss in the UK, Ireland, India, New Zealand and South Africa, and as fairy floss in Australia.
- Candy cane, the striped Christmas stick: see how do they get the stripes in candy canes?
- Rock candy, a hard sweet of large sugar crystals, a name first recorded in 1723.
Across the Atlantic
For how pick and mix works on the other side of the Atlantic, where it is bought as candy, see do Americans have pick and mix?
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Questions and answers
Is candy the same as sweets?
Yes. Candy is the usual word in the United States and Canada, and sweets is the usual word in the UK, Ireland and other English speaking countries, for the same kinds of sugar confectionery.
Why do Americans say candy and the British say sweets?
Both words are old. Candy came into English from the Old French çucre candi, sugar candy, while sweets is short for sweetmeats. Today, candy is the usual American word and sweets the usual British one.
What do Australians call sweets?
Lollies. In Australia and New Zealand, lollies means sweets of any kind, while in the UK and Ireland a lolly is a lollipop or an ice lolly.
Why is it candy floss in Britain?
The spun sugar treat Americans call cotton candy is sold as candy floss in the UK, Ireland, India, New Zealand and South Africa, and as fairy floss in Australia. The word candy survives in a few British names like this.
Sources
- Confectionery, Wikipedia
- Candy, Wikipedia
- Sweet, Wiktionary
- Sweetmeat, Wiktionary
- Lolly, Wiktionary
- Cotton candy, Wikipedia
- rock candy, Online Etymology Dictionary
Keep reading
- Questions people askWhy do the British call them sweets?Sweets is short for sweetmeats, an Old English word for sweet food. Candy meant crystallised sugar, broadening to all sweets in America by the 1800s.
- Questions people askWhy are sweets called ket?In the North East, sweets are kets. The word probably comes from Old Norse kjöt, meaning flesh, and in older northern use ket meant carrion or rubbish.
- British heritage sweetsWhat people call sweets around BritainSweets, sweeties, spice, kets or lollies? What you call sweets depends on where you grew up. Britain's regional words for sweets, and a few from abroad.
- Questions people askDo Americans have pick and mix?Yes, but they call it bulk or loose candy. Woolworth's five and dime stores sold it for much of the 20th century, and Swedish candy walls are spreading.
- Questions people askWhat is the difference between sherbet and sorbet?In Britain, sherbet is a fizzy sweet powder. In America it is a frozen dessert with a little dairy, and sorbet has none. All three share one root word.
- Questions people askWhy is chewing gum so hard to get off pavements?Gum bonds to pavements and shoe soles because they are made of similar polymers. Removing it needs steam and scrapers, and costs cities a fortune.