Meaning & use
chum chum
Last updated
UK/ˈtʃʌm tʃʌm/
US/ˈtʃʌm tʃʌm/
Meaning
nouncountable or uncountable
A soft oval Bengali dessert of curdled milk dough, boiled in sugar syrup and often topped with cream or coconut.
Grammar: Countable for pieces: three chum chums; uncountable as a type of sweet.
Patterns
- a plate of chum chum
We shared a box of chum chum after the festival.
The shop is known for its fresh chum chum.
She topped each chum chum with grated coconut.
Word forms
| plural | chum chums |
|---|
Common combinations
- box of chum chum
- He brought a box of chum chum for the party.
- soft chum chum
- The soft chum chum melted in my mouth.
- Bengali chum chum
- Bengali chum chum is a festival treat.
- chum chum with cream
- She ate chum chum with cream.
- syrupy chum chum
- The syrupy chum chum was very sweet.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rasgulla
- Rasgulla is a white, round, spongy sweet in light syrup, while chum chum is oval, often tinted, and denser.
- gulab jamun
- Gulab jamun is fried and dark brown, whereas chum chum is boiled in syrup.
- sandesh
- Sandesh is a Bengali milk sweet that is dry and molded, not soaked in syrup.
Word family
- chomchom noun
- an alternative spelling
- cham cham noun
- another spelling of the sweet
- mithai noun
- the general word for South Asian sweets
Commonly confused: chum chum or chum?
chum chum vs chum
A chum is an informal word for a close friend; it has nothing to do with the sweet.
Practice
What is a chum chum?
Choose one answer.
Chum chum is a sweet made from curdled milk. It is not a drink or a savory food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chum chum”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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