chewing gum

IPA/ˈtʃuːɪŋ ɡʌm/
IPA/ˈtʃuːɪŋ ɡʌm/

chewing gum — noun

1. a soft, flavoured substance you chew repeatedly in your mouth without swallowing

1.nounB1
Definition

a soft, flavoured substance you chew repeatedly in your mouth without swallowing — sold in small strips, sticks, or balls

Example

Fatima offered her friend a stick of chewing gum after lunch.

collocation: a stick of chewing gum

Hiroshi chewed his gum quietly during the long bus ride home.

Common collocations
  • chew gum
  • a stick of gum
  • a piece of gum
  • sugar-free gum
  • mint gum
  • bubble gum
Synonyms
  • bubble gum

    a type of chewing gum designed for blowing bubbles, typically pink and sweeter than regular gum

  • gum

    the informal short form; 'gum' is more common in everyday speech than the full 'chewing gum'

Grammar Patterns

a piece of chewing gum

a stick of chewing gum

Usage Note

Uncountable in general use — always say 'a piece of chewing gum' or 'a stick of chewing gum' for a single portion. The substance is chewed for flavour and then thrown away, never swallowed.

Common Mistakes

I ate a chewing gum after lunch.
I had a piece of chewing gum after lunch.
chewing gum is not eaten or swallowed; you chew it and then throw it away.
Can I have a chewing gum?
Can I have a piece of chewing gum?
'chewing gum' is uncountable; you need 'a piece of' or 'a stick of' before it.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Chewing gum is the general term for any flavoured substance meant to be chewed but not swallowed. Bubble gum is a specific type formulated to be stretchy enough for blowing bubbles — it is usually pink, sweeter, and loses its flavour faster than regular gum. Gum is simply the everyday short form and is used in nearly all the same contexts. Candy (or 'sweet' in British English), by contrast, is meant to be eaten and swallowed, not chewed indefinitely. A mint can mean either a small candy that dissolves in the mouth or a flavour variety of chewing gum, so context matters: 'a packet of mints' is candy; 'a stick of mint gum' is chewing gum.

bubble gum ↗gum ↗candy ↗mint ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • a stick of chewing gum
  • a piece of chewing gum
  • a packet of chewing gum
  • a wad of chewing gum

Phrases

  • chew gum
  • pop a piece of gum into your mouth

Etymology

Ancient Greek (mastic)Mayan (chicle)Spanish (chicle)English

People have chewed natural tree resins for thousands of years — the ancient Greeks used mastic gum, and the Maya chewed chicle from the sapodilla tree. Modern chewing gum began when chicle was brought from Central America to the United States in the 1860s. By the mid-20th century, manufacturers replaced natural chicle with synthetic gum bases, which are still used in most chewing gum today.

First known use

1850

1850, in the meaning defined above