comfit

English

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm

Proto-Italic *kom

Proto-Italic *kom-

Latin con-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti

Proto-Italic *θakjō

Proto-Italic *fakjō

Latin faciō

Latin cōnficiō

Latin cōnfectus

Old French confit

English comfit

From Old French confit (“preserved fruit”), from Latin cōnfectum. Doublet of confect, confetto, confit, and konfyt. Compare confit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌmfɪt/

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

Noun

comfit (plural comfits)

1. A confection consisting of a nut, seed or fruit coated with sugar.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     Heart! you swear like a comfit-maker's wife.

   • 1869, Louisa May Alcott, Perilous Play‎^[1]:

     "Why, what are they?" she asked, looking at him askance. ¶ "Hashish; did you never hear of it?" ¶ "Oh, yes; it's that Indian stuff which brings one fantastic visions, isn't it? I've always wanted to see and taste it, and now I will," cried Belle, nibbling at one of the bean-shaped comfits with its green heart.

   • 1922, James Elroy Flecker, The Story of Hassan of Baghdad and How he Came to Make the Golden Journey to Samarkand‎^[2], New York: Alfred A. Knopf, act I, page 17:

     But since I ate your present of comfits—and they were admirable comfits, and I ate them with speed—my heart is changed and inclined toward you, I know not why or how, except it be through magic.

Derived terms

• kissing comfit

Related terms

• comfiture

Translations

Translations

• Spanish: confite (es) m

See also

• bonbon
• discomfit
• sugar-plum

Verb

comfit (third-person singular simple present comfits, present participle comfiting, simple past and past participle comfited)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To make into a dry sugared confection.
   • 17th c, Abraham Cowley, The First Nemeæan Ode of Pindar: The Muse, 1795, Robert Anderson (editor), The Works of the British Poets, Volume 5, page 302,

     The fruit which does ſo quickly waſte, // Men ſcarce can ſee it, much leſs taſte, // Thou comfiteſt in ſweets to make it laſt.

References

• “comfit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Etymology 2

Acronym, from Computer Facial Identification Techniques.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmfɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

comfit (plural comfits)

1. (Australia) A computerised image of a suspect produced for the police force.
   • 2023, Trent Dalton, Lola in the Mirror:

     A black and white comfit of a man with a chin shaped like a spade, doorstop for a nose..