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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

jelly.

A dessert made by boiling gelatine (or a plant-based alternative such as agar or carrageenan), sugar and some flavouring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈd͡ʒɛli/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒeli/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈd͡ʒɛle/Scotland/-lɪ/Scotland
  1. A dessert made by boiling gelatine (or a plant-based alternative such as agar or carrageenan), sugar and some flavouring (often derived from fruit) and allowing it to set.

    Commonwealth · countable · uncountable
    His mother prepared jelly for him and his friends for dessert.
  2. A clear or translucent fruit preserve, made from fruit juice and set using either naturally occurring, or added, pectin.

    Canada · US · countable · uncountable
  3. Clipping of jelly coconut.

    Caribbean · Jamaica · abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · countable · uncountable
  4. A savoury substance, derived from meat, that has the same texture as the dessert.

    countable · uncountable
  5. Any substance or object having the consistency of the dessert or preserve.

    countable · uncountable
    calf's-foot jelly
  6. A jellyfish.

    countable · uncountable
  7. A pretty girl; a girlfriend.

    archaic · countable · slang · uncountable
  8. A large backside, especially a woman's.

    US · countable · slang · uncountable
  9. Alternative spelling of gelly: clipping of gelignite.

    alt-of · alternative · colloquial · countable · uncountable
  10. A jelly shoe.

    colloquial · countable · uncountable
  11. Blood.

    US · colloquial · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gel- Latin gelū Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin gelō ▲ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin -āta Early Medieval Latin gelāta Old French geleebor. Middle English gele English jelly Inherited from Middle English gele. Doublet of gelee.

verb/ˈd͡ʒɛli/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒeli/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈd͡ʒɛle/Scotland/-lɪ/Scotland
  1. To make into jelly.

    transitive
  2. To preserve in jelly.

    transitive
  3. To wiggle like jelly.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gel- Latin gelū Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin gelō ▲ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Latin -āta Early Medieval Latin gelāta Old French geleebor. Middle English gele English jelly Inherited from Middle English gele. Doublet of gelee.

adj/ˈd͡ʒɛli/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒeli/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈd͡ʒɛle/Scotland/-lɪ/Scotland
  1. Jealous.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Clipping of jealous + -y (informal adjective ending).

noun/ˈd͡ʒɛli/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒeli/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈd͡ʒɛle/Scotland/-lɪ/Scotland
  1. Vitrified brick refuse used as metal in building roads.

    India · uncountable
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.