sharbat

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindustani, from Classical Persian شَرْبَت (šarbat). Doublet of sherbet and sorbet.

sharbat means A West and South Asian sweet drink prepared from fruits or flower petals; a sherbet. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

Why “sharbat” is a great word

SHARBAT — [Noun] A sweet, concentrated West and South Asian beverage, prepared from fruit juices or floral essences and meant to be diluted with cold water. Borrowed from Hindustani, from Classical Persian شَرْبَت (šarbat), from Arabic شَرْبَة (sharbah, "a drink"), from the verb شَرِبَ (shariba, "to drink"). First recorded in English use in 1595–1605. Unlike "sherbet" (which, in English, connotes a frozen dessert or a fizzy powder) or "syrup" (a thick concentrate not meant for drinking undiluted), sharbat is the final, thirst-quenching libation itself. It is the ruby translucence of pomegranate, the heady perfume of crushed rose petals steeping in glass, and the syrupy, balsamic darkness of tamarind concentrate surrendering to water—an alchemy of essence and dilution, a deliberate, aromatic pause against the heat of the day.

noun

A West and South Asian sweet drink prepared from fruits or flower petals; a sherbet.“The Arabs brought sugarcane, mulberries, and citrus fruits (along with many things that have nothing to do with granita), and innumberable recipes for sharbat, their sweetened, aromatic drinks flavored with fruits, blossoms, and spices, and often chilled with mountain snow.”