Aftertaste is the flavor that lingers in your mouth after you've swallowed food or drink. Sometimes it's pleasant: the sweet aftertaste of chocolate can last for minutes. Other times it's unpleasant: certain medicines leave a bitter aftertaste that makes you want to rinse your mouth immediately.

The word helps explain why some foods taste different at first than they do moments later. A piece of blue cheese might taste sharp initially but leave a creamy, almost nutty aftertaste. Some artificial sweeteners taste fine while you're drinking them but develop a strange, metallic aftertaste afterward.

People also use aftertaste figuratively to describe a lingering feeling after an experience ends. If a friend's joke seemed funny at first but mean once you thought about it, you might say it left a bad aftertaste. When a movie ends on an unsettling note that stays with you all evening, that's an emotional aftertaste. Just as literal aftertastes can be pleasant or unpleasant, these figurative ones color how you remember an experience long after it's over.