madeleine
/ˈmædələn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.41 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A French type of small gateau or sponge cake, often shaped like an elongated scallop shell.
name
A female given name from French, variant of Madeline.
Example Sentences
- "And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray […] my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane."
- "Madeleine batter can be made in advance and refrigerated."
- "The Robe was thus fixed in my mind as a symbol, and in my memory as a madeleine, of Jewish evil."
- "Every five years or so, in the middle of another task, I'll look at them and a particular cover will bring memory flooding back like a madeleine."
- "My madeleine moment happened early on Friday, while pot smoke drifted in the air as I waited for a shuttle to the polo fields where Coachella takes place."
- ""We've been making up the most glamorous names for you, Marguerite and Marlene and Madeleine―" "And Melanie and Marianne and Marietta," put in Jane."
Etymology
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.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: Madeleine
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmædələn/
- British English: /ˈmad(ə)lɪn/