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up vote 4 down vote favorite

I've heard people use them interchangeably.
Just so I don't go crazy, what is the difference?

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3 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

Cane sugar comes from sugarcane. Sugarcane is the crop, cane sugar is the refined grains of sugar.

Edit: you also get other things from sugarcane, such as falernum, molasses, rum, cachaça, bagasse and ethanol.

There are photos of the crop are on Wikipedia.

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up vote 9 down vote

When you have two nouns together, usually the second is the basic meaning, and the first one acts like an adjective to modify it. An apple tree is a kind of tree. A tree house is a kind of house.

So sugar cane is a kind of cane. (It’s a cane from which sugar is produced.) Cane sugar is a kind of sugar. (It’s sugar that’s produced from cane.)

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1  
Any explanation for the downvote, by the way? I’m not offended by getting them, but it would be helpful to know why. – PLL May 25 '11 at 22:41
You're offended, obviously. – user8568 May 25 '11 at 22:45
+1 The answer looks obvious because the question is simple. For a native speaker that is. – Alain Pannetier Φ May 26 '11 at 0:10
3  
Downvoting an answer should always be accompanied by an explanatory comment, I feel. If we have to ask for an explanation, what does that really say about communication in this community? How else will the author of the downvoted answer hAve a chance to learn about what aspect of the answer was perceived as not suitable/wrong/not welcome. – teylyn May 26 '11 at 9:11
+1 for not just answering, but giving the general principle that explains why it's so. – Mechanical snail Jul 11 '12 at 19:15
up vote 5 down vote

Cane sugar is a type of sugar, sugar cane is a type of cane. The difference is which is the noun and which is the adjective.

Cane sugar is a type of sugar derived from a particular cane plant.

Sugar cane is a type of cane plant that can be used to make sugar.

For our next question we want to know, which came first, the chicken or the egg?

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snap! Almost identical answers, almost identical timing :-) – PLL May 25 '11 at 22:17

protected by RegDwighт♦ Apr 23 '12 at 10:06

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