A pudding is a sweet, creamy dessert that comes in many varieties. In America, pudding usually means a smooth, thick treat made with milk, sugar, and a thickening ingredient like cornstarch, often flavored with chocolate, vanilla, or butterscotch. You eat it with a spoon, and it has a texture somewhere between liquid and solid, soft and silky on your tongue.

British pudding means something quite different: it's a general term for dessert itself. When someone in England says “What's for pudding?” they're asking what dessert you're having, whether it's cake, ice cream, or actual pudding. They also use pudding to describe specific dishes like Yorkshire pudding (a savory baked item served with roast beef) or Christmas pudding (a dense, fruity cake).

The word can also appear in the phrase the proof is in the pudding, which people use incorrectly. The original saying is “the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” meaning you can't judge something until you try it. No matter how good a pudding looks, you won't know if it tastes good until you take a bite.