Meanings
plural melanges · alternative mélange
- A mixture of different things; a disordered mixture.First known use 17th c.
The room was a melange of comic books and posters.
Synonyms: assortment, farrago, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, mingle-mangle, mishmash, mixture, omnium-gatherum
- Coffee mixed with hot milk or whipped cream.First known use 19th c.
—I'll take a mélange, Haines said to the waitress.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 10: Wandering Rocks]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 238 - geographyA large-scale breccia formed in the accretionary wedge over a subductional environment.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA mixture of different things; a disordered mixture.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna motley assortment of things
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frankish*-ingo“-ing”
- Latinmisceō“mix”
- Vulgar Latin*misculāre
- Old Frenchmeslance
- Middle Frenchmélange
- Frenchmélange
- Englishmelange
From French mélange, from Middle French mélange, meslange, from Old French meslance, meslinges (“set of diverse elements”), derived from mescler (“to mingle, mix up”) (modern French mêler), from Vulgar Latin *misculāre, from Latin misceō (“mix”) + -inges, a suffix from Frankish *-ingo (“-ing”). More at mix, -ing.
More words from French, Middle French, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian смесица, меланж
- смесица (smesica)collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
- меланж (melanž)Viennese coffee speciality
Czech směs
- směscollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
Danish blanding
- blandingcollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
Finnish sekamelska, melange
- sekamelskacollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
- melangeViennese coffee speciality
German Melange, Melange
- Melangecollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
- MelangeViennese coffee speciality
Hungarian melanzs, keverék
- melanzscollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
- keverékcollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
- kavalkádcollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
Polish mieszanina, melanż
- mieszaninacollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
- melanżcollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
Romanian melanj
- melanjcollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
Russian вся́кая вся́чина, мешани́на
- вся́кая вся́чина (vsjákaja vsjáčina)collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
- мешани́на (mešanína)collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
- сбо́рная соля́нка (sbórnaja soljánka)collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
Slovak zmes
- zmescollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
Spanish mezcolanza
- mezcolanzacollection containing a variety of miscellaneous things
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
melange. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/melange
“melange.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/melange. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “melange,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/melange.
Source: melange on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.