Note: Do not confuse dessert with desert, which usually refers to arid land having sparse vegetation, a very warm climate, and minimal sporadic rainfall.
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Where does the phrase just deserts come from?
Why do we say that someone has gotten their just deserts? Does this turn of phrase have anything to do with dessert (“a sweet food eaten at the end of a meal”) or desert (“a dry land with few plants and little rainfall”)? In fact, the phrase employs neither of these words. Instead, it uses a completely unrelated word that happens to be pronounced like the word for sweets and spelled like the one for a dry place: desert, meaning “reward or punishment deserved or earned by one’s qualities or acts.” This little-used noun is, as you might have guessed, related to the English verb deserve. It has nothing to do with arid, dry land, or with cookies and ice cream.
Examples of dessert in a Sentence
John McPhee, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026 There are also dessert nachos, usually made with something like pita chips, such as cheesecake cannoli nachos. —Pamela McLoughlin, Hartford Courant, 19 Apr. 2026 The open folds and freeform shape make this dessert more approachable for some folks. —Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 19 Apr. 2026 Traditionally, this dessert asks you to (1) swaddle hot cake in a kitchen towel; (2) roll, cool, and unroll it to set the shape; then (3) fill and reroll it with bated breath. —Shilpa Uskokovic, Bon Appetit Magazine, 1 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for dessert
Cite this Entry
“Dessert.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.grautoblog.com/dictionary/dessert. Accessed 25 Apr. 2026.
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dessert
noun
