Will the word sour in "sweet and sour" dish give negative connotation?

Will the word sour in "sweet and sour" dish give negative connotation? In Chinese we actually say "sweet and vinegary" dish ('糖醋' as '醋' is vinegar). Check https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_and_sour, to quote

The etymology of the term "Sweet and Sour" comes from the Chinese word "甜酸"(甜 = sweet, 酸 = sour), formally used in Chinese dishes as "糖醋“ (糖 = sugar, 醋 = vinegar). It is commonly used in China since the Tang Dynasty (618-907) ...

When I look the word "sour" up in dictionary, it seems that except for "sweet and sour", all the other meanings all give out some unpleasant feeling, which makes me feel "sweet and sour" seem not be a good translation, e.g. why not "sweet and vinegary" ?

But is it the case? As English is not my native language, I am not sure the nuances of these two.


As others have stated, sour doesn't always carry a negative connotation for food, though it can, sour cream is fine, sour milk not so much.

However, in terms of describing dishes as 'sweet and sour' a menu would not describe something as sour it it was not supposed to be. Context is everything.

In addition, 'sweet and sour' has an appealing degree of alliteration, and has become a set term in English.