Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but can also refer to a savory dish in some dialects.
In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries, pudding refers to rich, fairly homogeneous starch- or dairy-based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, Christmas pudding), or, informally, is used to refer to any dessert. The word is also used for fairly homogeneous encased savory dishes, e.g. black pudding, suet pudding.
In the U.S., pudding denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards as well as to more traditional puddings such as bread pudding or rice pudding.
The word pudding probably comes from the French boudin, originally from the Latin botellus, meaning "small sausage," referring to encased meats used in Medieval European puddings.
