Meaning & use
Chinese funnel cake
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable or uncountableinformal
A sweet snack made by pouring thin batter through a funnel into hot oil, then topping the crisp swirl with sugar or other sweeteners.
Grammar: Countable when you mean one whole piece (a Chinese funnel cake), uncountable when you mean the food in general (we ate Chinese funnel cake).
Patterns
- a Chinese funnel cake
- order a Chinese funnel cake
- topped with sugar
We shared a Chinese funnel cake at the night market, still hot from the oil.
The stall sells Chinese funnel cake dusted with cinnamon sugar.
He burned his fingers trying to eat the Chinese funnel cake too quickly.
nouncountableinformal
A funnel cake served with toppings typical of Chinese-style street sweets, such as sesame, peanut, or matcha powder.
Grammar: Use a/an or a plural when talking about individual servings with particular toppings.
Patterns
- a Chinese funnel cake with sesame
- Chinese funnel cakes with matcha
This version of a Chinese funnel cake comes with black sesame and honey.
They make Chinese funnel cakes with peanut powder and condensed milk.
Word forms
| plural | Chinese funnel cakes |
|---|
Common combinations
- a warm Chinese funnel cake
- A warm Chinese funnel cake tastes best straight from the fryer.
- dust with powdered sugar
- Dust the Chinese funnel cake with powdered sugar before serving.
- sell at a fair
- Vendors sell Chinese funnel cake at fairs and festivals.
- topped with
- The Chinese funnel cake is topped with sesame and peanuts.
Synonyms and how they differ
- funnel cake
- The general American name for the same fried batter snack; use it when the Chinese-style toppings are not the point.
- fried dough
- A broader term for sweet fried batter sold at fairs, not limited to the funnel-shaped swirl.
Word family
- funnel noun
- the cone-shaped tool the batter is poured through, which gives the snack its name
Commonly confused: Chinese funnel cake or Chinese pancake?
Chinese funnel cake vs Chinese pancake
A Chinese pancake is a flat, often savory or scallion-filled griddle cake, not a fried batter swirl.
Practice
Which sentence uses the headword correctly?
Choose one answer.
'At the fair' is the natural phrase for a place where you buy food; 'of' and 'on' do not fit this meaning, and 'for the fair' would mean it was meant as a gift for the event.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Chinese funnel cake”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.