verb phrase🎓 English idiom
sell like hotcakes
to sell very quickly
What it means
To sell very quickly and in large quantities. It describes a product that is so popular that stock disappears almost as fast as it appears.
Words like “sell like hotcakes” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.
Examples
- The new phone is selling like hotcakes; they sold out in two hours.
- Once the singer mentioned the book, it started selling like hotcakes.
- Tickets for the final are selling like hotcakes despite the high prices.
- Her homemade jam sold like hotcakes at the village fair.
Where it comes from
Hotcakes, an old American term for griddle cakes or pancakes, were a popular fast-selling treat at fairs and events in the 1800s, giving rise to this comparison.
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