butterscotch

Meanings

Noun

• A hard candy made from butter, brown sugar, syrup and vanilla.
• A sauce or syrup made of similar ingredients.
• A light brown colour, like that of butterscotch candy.

Adjective

• Of a light brown colour, like that of butterscotch candy.
• Having the flavour of butterscotch.

Origin

• Butter + scotch, with the second element deriving not from scotch whiskey or Scotland, but from Middle English scocchen ("to score, nick, cut"), in reference to how the candy is boiled and hardened and then usually scored to make breaking it apart easier. The word is usually said to have originally been a trademark of Parkinson's, who is claimed to have invented it.