caramelize

/ˈkaɹ(ə)məlʌɪz/

caramelize verb: to convert (sugar) into caramel.

Verb

caramelize (third-person singular simple present caramelizes, present participle caramelizing, simple past and past participle caramelized)

(transitive) To convert (sugar) into caramel.
(transitive) To brown (sugar, or a foodstuff containing sugar) by means of heat.
- Slowly cooking the onions will caramelize them, which brings out the sweetness and gives them a brown color.
(intransitive) To undergo this kind of conversion or browning.

The restaurant served caramelized onion shells.
Often a caramelized tomato or tomato pinçage is used to give both flavor and color.
It was all buttered and French toasty, and you put these caramelized bananas on top,” he said.

third-person singular present	caramelizes
present participle	caramelizing
past participle	caramelized
past	caramelized
alternative form	caramelise
alternative US (nonstandard)	carmelize

From caramel + -ize.

What does caramelize mean?: Caramelize means to convert (sugar) into caramel.
What part of speech is caramelize?: Caramelize is a verb.
How do you pronounce caramelize?: Caramelize is pronounced /ˈkaɹ(ə)məlʌɪz/.
What is the past tense of caramelize?: The past tense of caramelize is caramelized.

Adapted from Wiktionary: caramelize (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-caramelize.wav.

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