Word.ws English Dictionary

candy striper

candy striper noun: a volunteer worker in a hospital or hospice.

candy striper: a volunteer worker in a hospital or hospice
Image: Florida Memory, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

candy striper (plural candy stripers)

  1. (US) A volunteer worker in a hospital or hospice.

Forms of candy striper

pluralcandy stripers
alternative formcandy-striper
alternative formcandystriper

Origin of candy striper

First appears in the US c. 1944, from candy stripe + -er, due to the red-and-white striped jumpers worn by hospital volunteers, which resembled stick candy (being candy-striped); originally worn by a group of high-school girls who volunteered as hospital workers at East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey.

Questions about candy striper

What does candy striper mean?
Candy striper means a volunteer worker in a hospital or hospice.
What part of speech is candy striper?
Candy striper is a noun.
What is the plural of candy striper?
The plural of candy striper is candy stripers.

Words near candy striper in the dictionary

  1. candy store
  2. candy store problem
  3. candy store problems
  4. candy stores
  5. candy stripe
  6. candy striper
  7. candy stripers
  8. candy stripes
  9. candy thermometer
  10. candy thermometers
  11. candy wrapper

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: candy striper (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “candy striper.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/candy_striper. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.