madeleine

madeleine · noun¹

1. French · borrowed frommadeleine
2. English todaymadeleine

Unadapted borrowing from French madeleine, from earlier gâteau à la Madeleine, after the given name Madeleine (“Magdalene”), of uncertain reference: attributed in some sources to a 19th-century pastry cook Madeleine Paulmier, whose existence is now considered dubious. In sense 2, used with reference to the cake's function in the extract below, taken from Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

Madeleine · proper noun²

1. French · borrowed fromMadeleine
2. English todayMadeleine

From French Madeleine. Doublet of Magdalene.

Words from the same roots