custard

American  

[kuhs-terd] / ˈkʌs tərd /

noun

1. a dessert made of eggs, sugar, and milk, either baked, boiled, or frozen.

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custard British  

/ ˈkʌstəd /

noun

1. a baked sweetened mixture of eggs and milk

2. a sauce made of milk and sugar and thickened with cornflour

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Etymology

Origin of custard

1400–50; late Middle English, metathetic variant of earlier crustade kind of pie. See crust, -ade ¹; compare Provençal croustado

Compare meaning

How does custard compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• custard vs. ice cream

Example Sentences

Branded "rhubarb and custard", Scotland wore a modern interpretation on the Earl of Rosebery's colours to round off Euro 2016 qualifying with a dominant 6-0 win over Gibraltar in Faro.

From BBC • Mar. 24, 2026

And this episode in the three-part Vice sports series “Out of Bounds” will likely have the effect of a figurative custard pie in the face of the heavily armed and coercive DraftKings-FanDuel-powered juggernaut.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026

Dollops of apple butter melt into the warm custard during baking, creating pockets of spiced fruit that taste like fall condensed into a single slice.

From Salon • Dec. 18, 2025

"I want to demonstrate that I can make serious points by flinging a custard pie around the stage for a couple of hours," the Czech-born Stoppard said in a 1970s interview.

From Barron's • Nov. 29, 2025

Covered with mosquito bites, my stomach bloated with custard and jelly, I could barely get out of bed.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah