Word.ws English Dictionary

Turkish delight

/ˈtɜː(ɹ)kɪʃ dɪˈlaɪt/

Turkish delight noun: a soft, sticky confection made from starch and sugar with various flavourings.

turkish delight: a soft, sticky confection made from starch and sugar with various flavourings
Image: Chris Buttigieg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

Turkish delight (usually uncountable, plural Turkish delights)

  1. (usually) A soft, sticky confection made from starch and sugar with various flavourings.
    • Bunter thanked him gravely for his good opinion, and proffered a box of that equally nauseating mess called Turkish Delight, which not only gluts the palate and glues the teeth, but also smothers the consumer in a floury cloud of white sugar.1930, Dorothy Sayers, Strong Poison

Turkish delight meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic and Malay

Turkish delight in Hindi

confection
टर्किश डिलाइट ṭarkiś ḍilāiṭ, लोकुम lokum

Turkish delight in Urdu

confection
رَاحَتُ ٱلْحُلْقُوم rāhatu l-hulqūm, لُکُوم lukūm

Turkish delight in Arabic

confection
رَاحَة الْحُلْقُوم rāḥat al-ḥulqūm

Turkish delight in Malay

confection
halwa maskat
More languagesFewer languages
Turkish delight in Vietnamese
như rahat-loukoum

Synonyms of Turkish delight

Forms of Turkish delight

pluralTurkish delights

Origin of Turkish delight

Allegedly coined by an English traveller who could not pronounce the Ottoman Turkish name راحت الحلقوم (râhatü'l-hulkûm), 18th c.

Questions about Turkish delight

What does Turkish delight mean?
Turkish delight means a soft, sticky confection made from starch and sugar with various flavourings.
What is Turkish delight in Hindi?
Turkish delight in Hindi is टर्किश डिलाइट (ṭarkiś ḍilāiṭ), लोकुम (lokum). See Turkish delight meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is Turkish delight?
Turkish delight is a noun.
How do you pronounce Turkish delight?
Turkish delight is pronounced /ˈtɜː(ɹ)kɪʃ dɪˈlaɪt/.
What is the plural of Turkish delight?
The plural of Turkish delight is Turkish delights.

Words near Turkish delight in the dictionary

  1. Turkish coffees
  2. Turkish corsair
  3. Turkish corsairs
  4. Turkish crescent
  5. Turkish crescents
  6. Turkish delight
  7. Turkish delights
  8. Turkish draughts
  9. Turkish knot
  10. Turkish knots
  11. Turkish pizza

Source and license

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

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