Meaning & use
fairy floss
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountableAustralian
A light, fluffy sweet made by spinning melted sugar into thin threads, usually sold on a stick or in a bag at fairs.
Grammar: Used without an or plural: some fairy floss, not a fairy floss.
Patterns
- a stick of fairy floss
- a bag of fairy floss
The kids shared a pink cloud of fairy floss at the show.
Fairy floss sticks to your fingers if you hold it too long.
He bought a bag of fairy floss from the stall near the Ferris wheel.
Common combinations
- a stick of fairy floss
- She waved a stick of fairy floss around the fairground.
- spin fairy floss
- The vendor spun fairy floss for the queue of children.
- pink fairy floss
- The pink fairy floss melted quickly on a warm day.
- a fairy floss machine
- They hired a fairy floss machine for the party.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cotton candy
- This is the American name for the same treat, so it would sound foreign in Australia.
- candy floss
- This is the British name, used in the UK and Ireland.
Word family
Commonly confused: fairy floss or dental floss?
fairy floss vs dental floss
Dental floss is thread for cleaning between teeth, not a sweet.
Practice
At the Sydney show, the children asked for a stick of pink ___.
Choose one answer.
Fairy floss is the Australian name for the spun sugar treat. Dental floss is for teeth, and the other options are not edible.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fairy floss”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.