Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sweet-and-sour

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.84 in modern English

Syllables: sweet--and--sour
IPA

16

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

5

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Having both sweet and sour or tart taste.

adj

Having both positive and negative traits, or inspiring conflicting good and bad feelings.

noun

Any dish that combines sweet and sour flavours, especially

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Any dish that combines sweet and sour flavours, especially:

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Any dish that combines sweet and sour flavours, especially:

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Any dish that combines sweet and sour flavours, especially:

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"Like an accordion at a country wedding producing sweet-and-sour notes, some importers are expanding their U.S. retail automotive operations while others are skinnying down."
"Humans utilize a kind of sweet and sour blend of love potion called charm."
"There is a strong German ethnic streak in rural western Maryland and it shows in the cooking with its sweet-and-sours."
"First we had tossed green salad, prepared by Sister McDonald and our two new members, and then our Chinese food - chow mein, rice, egg foo young, sweet and sours, bread sticks, chinese tea with fortune cakes, prepared and served by our Brother Yardmasters for a "Chinese Food" dinner."
"Breakfast is served until 11am, after which delicious chilled beans, sweet and sours, and stir fries appear for around RM3 a portion."
"In contrast, this definitely isn't 'real' China – sticky sweet-and-sours and egg foo yong are the rule here – but it's quiet, cosy and tasty, and the price is right."

Usage

Inflected Forms

more sweet-and-sour (comparative) most sweet-and-sour (superlative) sweet and sour (alternative) sweet-and-sours (plural)

Phrases

sweet-and-sour sauce barbecue sauce

Frequently Paired Words

agrodolce barbecue sauce

Synonyms

bittersweet

Questions

What does sweet-and-sour mean?: Having both sweet and sour or tart taste.

How to pronounce sweet-and-sour

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sweet-and-sour”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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Repeat and practice — Say “sweet-and-sour” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.