Sugar and water cooked and then beaten until they turn into a soft white paste — soft enough to spread, to roll flat, or to shape in your fingers, and sweet the whole way through. Everything the word covers is that one paste: first the paste itself, then the little sweets somebody made out of it.
English took the word straight from French fondant, meaning melting, from fondre (to melt) and before that Latin fundere. The old sense of melting still fits what the paste does in your mouth.
英文直接從法文 fondant 借過來，那個字的意思是「正在融化的」，來自 fondre（融化），再往前是拉丁文 fundere。「會融化」這條線索正好對上今天的畫面：不管是包蛋糕的糖膏還是一顆糖，重點都是入口就化。
Wiktionary entry for fondant, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:712858094 — unadapted borrowing from French fondant (melting), from fondre, from Latin fundere
One branch
一團糖膏，和用它做出來的糖
兩個意思其實是同一團東西的兩個階段：先是那團軟糖膏，再來是把糖膏做成成品之後的樣子。分辨方法很單純，看文法就知道：沒有 a、沒有 s，講的是材料；有 a 或有 s，講的是一顆糖。
noun · B2
A soft, very sweet paste made mainly from sugar and water, beaten until it is smooth and creamy. Bakers spread it or roll it flat to cover cakes, and also use it as the sweet filling inside small sweets.
翻糖