bittersweet

adjective

• 1(of food or drink) sweet with a bitter aftertaste: she sipped the bittersweet drink the ale has a fine bittersweet nutty taste

• 2arousing pleasure tinged with sadness or pain:bittersweet memories of his time in London

noun

• 1another term for woody nightshade (see nightshade).

• 2a vine-like American climbing plant which bears clusters of bright orange pods.

  • Genus Celastrus, family Celastraceae: several species

• 3 (also bittersweet shell) a widely distributed bivalve mollusc which has a pale rounded shell that is typically marked with wavy lines.

  • Genus Glycymeris, family Glycymeridae