Meanings
plural gingerbreads · alternative Scotland gingebred
- countablefigurativelyobsoleteuncountableSomething ersatz; something showy but insubstantial.
- countableuncountablearchitectureA flamboyant Victorian-era architectural style.
For a time modern architects took a starkly functional approach to the design of houses, emphasizing clean, uncluttered lines and rejecting most forms of wall ornamentation as dust-catching gingerbread.
1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 37
present singular third person gingerbreads · participle present gingerbreading · participle past gingerbreaded · past gingerbreaded · alternative Scotland gingebred
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo decorate or embellish in an ornate or intricate way.
Origin
- Ancient Greekζιγγίβερις
- Latinzingiber“ginger”
- Medieval Latin*gingimbrātus“gingered”
- Old Frenchgingembras
- Middle Englishgyngebred
- Englishgingerbread
From Middle English gyngebred, gyngebrede, from Old French gingembras, gingimbrat (“preserved ginger”), from Medieval Latin *gingimbrātus (“gingered”, presumably referring to ginger that perhaps had a pharmaceutical use for some medicinal preparation), with the intrusive m added to gingiber, from Latin zingiber (“ginger”), of earlier Sanskrit origin, through Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερις (zingíberis). The third syllable was earlier confounded with bread, and the insertion of an r in the second syllable completed the semblance of a compound word: ginger + bread.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic كَعْكَة زَنْجَبِيلٍ
- كَعْكَة زَنْجَبِيلٍtype of cake
Bulgarian меденка
- меденка (medenka)type of cake
Chinese Cantonese 薑餅 /姜饼
- 薑餅 /姜饼 (goeng¹ bing²)type of cake
Chinese Mandarin 薑餅 /姜饼
- 薑餅 /姜饼 (jiāngbǐng)type of cake
Czech perník
- perníktype of cake
Danish honningkage, peberkage
- honningkagetype of cake
- peberkagetype of cake
Dutch peperkoek, gemberkoek
- peperkoektype of cake
- gemberkoektype of cake
Esperanto spickuko, mielkuko
- spickukotype of cake
- mielkukotype of cake
Estonian piparkook, präänik
- piparkooktype of cake
- prääniktype of cake
Finnish piparkakku, pipari
- piparkakkutype of cake
- piparitype of cake
French pain d'épice, pain d'épices
- pain d'épicetype of cake
- pain d'épicestype of cake
- style gingerbreadarchitectural style
- gingerbreadarchitectural style
German Pfefferkuchen, Lebkuchen
- Pfefferkuchentype of cake
- Lebkuchentype of cake
- Ingwerbrottype of cake
- Gewürzkuchentype of cake
- Honigkuchentype of cake
- Lebzeltentype of cake
Hebrew לֶחֶם זַנְגְּבִיל, עוּגַת זַנְגְּבִיל
- לֶחֶם זַנְגְּבִיל (lékhem zangvíl)type of cake
- עוּגַת זַנְגְּבִיל (úgat zangvíl)type of cake
Hindi जिंजरब्रेड
- जिंजरब्रेड (jiñjrabreḍ)type of cake
Hungarian mézeskalács
- mézeskalácstype of cake
Icelandic piparkaka
- piparkakatype of cake
Irish arán sinséir
- arán sinséirtype of cake
Italian pan di zenzero, pan di spezie
- pan di zenzerotype of cake
- pan di spezietype of cake
- stile gingerbreadarchitectural style
- gingerbreadarchitectural style
Japanese ジンジャーブレッド
- ジンジャーブレッド (jinjābureddo)type of cake
Korean 생강빵, 진저브레드
- 생강빵 (saenggangppang)type of cake
- 진저브레드 (jinjeobeuredeu)type of cake
Latvian piparkūka
- piparkūkatype of cake
Lithuanian meduolis
- meduolistype of cake
Norwegian Bokmål pepperkake
- pepperkaketype of cake
Persian نان زنجبیلی, کیک زنجبیلی
- نان زنجبیلی (nân zanjabili)type of cake
- کیک زنجبیلی (keyk zanjabili)type of cake
Polish piernik, pierniczek
- pierniktype of cake
- pierniczektype of cake
Portuguese bolo de gengibre, pão de mel
- bolo de gengibretype of cake
- pão de meltype of cake
Romanian turtă dulce
- turtă dulcetype of cake
Russian пря́ник, имби́рный пря́ник
- пря́ник (prjánik)type of cake
- имби́рный пря́ник (imbírnyj prjánik)type of cake
- коври́жка (kovrížka)type of cake
Slovak medovník
- medovníktype of cake
Spanish pan de jengibre, pan de especias
- pan de jengibretype of cake
- pan de especiastype of cake
Swedish pepparkaka, snickarglädje
- pepparkakatype of cake
- snickarglädjearchitectural style
Tamil இஞ்சியப்பம், இஞ்சியணிச்சல்
- இஞ்சியப்பம் (iñciyappam)type of cake
- இஞ்சியணிச்சல் (iñciyaṇiccal)type of cake
Thai ขนมขิง, ขนมปังขิง
- ขนมขิง (kà-nǒm kǐng)type of cake
- ขนมปังขิง (kà-nǒm bpang kǐng)type of cake
- ขนมขิงพริกไทย (kà-nǒm kǐng prík-tai)type of cake
- ขนมขิงเครื่องเทศ (kà-nǒm kǐng krʉ̂ʉang-têet)type of cake
- ขนมขิงน้ำผึ้ง (kà-nǒm kǐng náam-pʉ̂ng)type of cake
Turkish zencefilli kurabiye
- zencefilli kurabiyetype of cake
Ukrainian пря́ник, імби́рний пря́ник
- пря́ник (prjányk)type of cake
- імби́рний пря́ник (imbýrnyj prjányk)type of cake
Vietnamese bánh gừng, bánh mì gừng
- bánh gừngtype of cake
- bánh mì gừngtype of cake
Welsh cacen goch, torth sinsir
- cacen gochtype of cake
- torth sinsirtype of cake
- bara poethtype of cake
Yiddish אינגבער־קוכן, אינגבער־לעקעך
- אינגבער־קוכן (ingber-kukhn)type of cake
- אינגבער־לעקעך (ingber-lekekh)type of cake
- פֿעפֿער־קוכן (fefer-kukhn)type of cake
- קאָרן־לעקעך (korn-lekekh)type of cake
Cite this entry
gingerbread. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gingerbread
“gingerbread.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gingerbread. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gingerbread,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gingerbread.
Source: gingerbread on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.