Etymology

mooncake

moon·cake
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Today it means: A rich, dense Chinese pastry traditionally filled with lotus seed paste and nowadays with a variety of other fillings, usually eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar; early September to early October). Full definition →

First used late 17th c.Mandarin 月餅 /月饼
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The story

  1. Mandarin · calque of月餅 /月饼“mooncake”
  2. English todaymooncake

From moon + cake, a calque of Mandarin 月餅 /月饼 (yuèbíng, “mooncake”), from 月 (yuè, “moon”) + 餅 /饼 (bíng, “pastry; biscuit, cookie”), probably because the pastry’s traditional round shape resembles the full moon visible during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

First known use, by meaning

  • from late 17th c. A rich, dense Chinese pastry traditionally filled with lotus seed paste and nowadays with a variety of other fillings, usually eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar; early September to early October).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.