A gumdrop is a small, colorful candy shaped like a little dome or half-sphere. Gumdrops have a soft, chewy texture and come in flavors like cherry, lemon, orange, and licorice. They're coated with sugar crystals that make them slightly sparkly and less sticky to touch.

These candies became popular in America during the 1800s and show up in all kinds of traditions. Many people use them to decorate gingerbread houses at Christmas, pressing the colorful candies into frosting to look like roof tiles or pathway stones. The gumdrop mountains in the board game Candy Land made them part of children's imaginations for generations.

The word can also describe anything small and dome-shaped. An architect might sketch a building with gumdrop towers, or you might see gumdrop buttons on a child's sweater. When something looks like it could be a plump little candy, gumdrop captures that round, cheerful shape perfectly.