madeleine

¹ American  

[mad-l-in, mad-l-eyn, mad^uh-len] / ˈmæd l ɪn, ˌmæd lˈeɪn, madəˈlɛn /

noun

French Cooking.

plural

madeleines

1. a small shell-shaped cake made of flour, eggs, sugar, and butter and baked in a mold.

2. something that triggers memories or nostalgia: in allusion to a nostalgic passage in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.

---

Madeleine ² American  

[mad-l-in, -lahyn, mad^uh-len] / ˈmæd l ɪn, -ˌlaɪn, madəˈlɛn /

Also Madelaine,

noun

1. a female given name, form of Magdalene.

---

madeleine British  

/ -ˌleɪn, ˈmædəlɪn /

noun

1. a small fancy sponge cake

---

Etymology

Origin of madeleine

1835–45; < French, earlier gâteau à la Madeleine, after the female given name; the attribution of the recipe to an 18th-century cook named Madeleine Pau(l)mier is unsubstantiated

Example Sentences

They are also kind of the perfect mix between a macaroon and a madeleine.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 3, 2023

The madeleine incident, in which the hero’s childhood is reconjured by the taste of a small cake dipped in lime-blossom tea, is known even to readers who haven’t cracked the spine on “Swann’s Way.”

From Washington Post • Nov. 17, 2022

For me, the Ms. logo will always be as much a Proustian madeleine as the standard of an icon in American journalism.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 23, 2022

In these drawings, I have found something like a past-recapturing, Proustian madeleine, made of ink instead of flour and sugar.

From New York Times • Dec. 9, 2021

She pops a raspberry cream puff in her mouth, chewing quickly, then takes three madeleine cookies.

From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton