What does dessertspoonful mean?
A dessertspoonful is the quantity that a dessertspoon — a spoon sized between a teaspoon and a tablespoon — can hold. In British and Commonwealth cooking it functions as a rough unit of volume, generally taken to equal about two teaspoons, or roughly ten millilitres, though actual capacities vary slightly between households and cutlery sets. The word appears most often in recipes and domestic instructions: one might add a dessertspoonful of honey to tea or stir a dessertspoonful of herbs into a stew. It is a compound formed from 'dessert' plus 'spoonful', following the same pattern as 'teaspoonful' and 'tablespoonful'. While familiar in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, the term is less common in American kitchens, where measurements tend to be given in tablespoons, teaspoons, or millilitres. Its plural is usually 'dessertspoonfuls'.
nounThe amount held by a dessertspoon, a spoon intermediate in size between a teaspoon and a tablespoon; in British usage it is often treated as a unit of measure equal to about two teaspoons or roughly 10 millilitres.
- The quantity contained in a dessertspoon.
- (British) A unit of culinary measurement equal to approximately two teaspoons or about 10 millilitres.
"Stir a dessertspoonful of honey into the warm water until it dissolves."
"Add a dessertspoonful of flour to thicken the sauce."
"The recipe calls for one dessertspoonful of dried herbs."
Both 'dessertspoonfuls' and 'dessertspoonsful' are attested; modern style guides generally prefer 'dessertspoonfuls', treating '-ful' as a suffix attached to the whole compound rather than inflecting the inner noun.
"The mixture requires two dessertspoonfuls of lemon juice."
In British kitchens, a dessertspoonful isn't just a scoop of pudding — it's an official-ish measure of about 10 ml, sitting neatly halfway between a teaspoon and a tablespoon.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dessertspoonful
Dessertspoonful is a straightforward English compound combining 'dessert' — a word borrowed from French in the early seventeenth century, ultimately from French 'desservir', meaning 'to clear the table' — with 'spoonful', an Old English formation from 'spoon' and the suffix '-ful' denoting 'the amount that fills'. The compound arose once dessertspoons became established items of cutlery, and it parallels its sibling measures 'teaspoonful' and 'tablespoonful'. Cognate formations appear throughout Germanic languages, where '-full' compounds likewise denote capacity rather than abundance.
Related word forms
How dessertspoonful is actually used
The word is chiefly used in British and Commonwealth cooking contexts; American recipes more often specify tablespoons or millilitres. Both plural forms 'dessertspoonfuls' and 'dessertspoonsful' are attested, with the former being more common in modern usage. The term is informal to neutral in register, appearing mainly in recipes and household instructions.
Easily confused with dessertspoonful
A tablespoonful is the larger measure held by a tablespoon (about three teaspoons), whereas a dessertspoonful is the smaller amount held by a dessertspoon (about two teaspoons).
A teaspoonful is roughly half the quantity of a dessertspoonful, which equals about two teaspoons.