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madeleine

[ mad-l-in, mad-l-eyn; French maduh-len ]
/ ˈmæd l ɪn, ˌmæd lˈeɪn; French madəˈlɛn /
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noun, plural mad·e·leines [mad-l-inz, mad-l-eynz; French maduh-len]. /ˈmæd l ɪnz, ˌmæd lˈeɪnz; French madəˈlɛn/. French Cooking.
a small shell-shaped cake made of flour, eggs, sugar, and butter and baked in a mold.
something that triggers memories or nostalgia: in allusion to a nostalgic passage in Proust'sRemembrance of Things Past.
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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

Other definitions for madeleine (2 of 2)

Madeleine
[ mad-l-in, -lahyn; French maduh-len ]
/ ˈmæd l ɪn, -ˌlaɪn; French madəˈlɛn /

noun
a female given name, form of Magdalene.
Also Mad·e·laine, Mad·e·lene [mad-l-in], /ˈmæd l ɪn/, Mad·e·line, Mad·e·lyn.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use madeleine in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for madeleine

madeleine
/ (ˈmædəlɪn, -ˌleɪn) /

noun
a small fancy sponge cake

Word Origin for madeleine

C19: perhaps after Madeleine Paulmier, French pastry cook
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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