CHOCOLATE

chocolate, a paste of the ground kernels of the cocoa bean, mixed with sugar, vanilla or other flavouring, made into a cake, which is used for the manufacture of various forms of sweetmeat, or in making the beverage, also known as "chocolate," obtained by dissolving cakes of chocolate in boiling water or milk (see cocoa). the word came into eng. through the fr. _chocolat_ or span. _chocolate_ from the mex. _chocolatl_. according to the _new english dictionary_ (quoting r. simeon, _dict. de la langue nahuatl_), this was "an article of food made of ... the seeds of cacao and of the tree pochotl (_bombax ceiba_)," and was etymologically distinct from the mexican _cacauatl_, cacao, or cocoa.