margarine
/ˈmɑɹ.d͡ʒəˌɹin/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.83 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A spread, manufactured from a blend of vegetable oils (some of which are hydrogenated), emulsifiers etc, mostly used as a substitute for butter.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Putting the finishing touches on her party dinner, this attractive hostess does the last minute job of margarining her rolls to serve piping hot to her guests."
- "She is margarining a slice of bread, rubbing the grease carefully into the crumb."
- "Now that she was back in the land of the living, she took to margarining our toast again."
- "He has been totally occupied since we sat down, margarining every inch of his roll, likewise his baked potato, salting down everything in sight."
Etymology
Borrowed from French margarine, from acide margarique (“margaric acid”), from Ancient Greek μάργαρον (márgaron, “pearl”), in allusion to its pearly lustre, with the suffix -ine, influenced by glycérine (“glycerine”). French chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul named margaric acid after its pearl-like crystallization.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: μάργαρον
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmɑɹ.d͡ʒəˌɹin/
- British English: /ˌmɑː.d͡ʒəˈɹiːn/