means a small, bean-shaped candy with a hard sugar shell and a soft, chewy center, usually sold in an assortment of fruity (and sometimes baffling) flavors.

from A straightforward American mash-up: "jelly" for the gummy, gel-like center plus "bean" for the little kidney-ish shape. The candy itself seems to fuse two older confections — the soft jelly interior likely descends from Turkish delight, and the hard sugar-panned shell from the centuries-old technique used to coat Jordan almonds. The compound word "jelly bean" surfaced in American English in the late 19th century, and for a time "jellybean" was also slang for a flashy, useless young dandy — sweet on the outside, nothing of substance within.