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.

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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.

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madeleine British  

/ -ˌleɪn, ˈmædəlɪn /

noun

1. a small fancy sponge cake

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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

For him, pinball games unlock memories, much as the madeleine did for Proust.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026

GERWIG: In “Remembrance of Things Past,” in “Swann’s Way,” he is literally thrown back into his childhood through the taste of the madeleine.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 20, 2023

In “August Blue,” horses are even more resonant; they act on Elsa much like Proust’s madeleine.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2023

Where, for instance, the first recipe for the iconic French madeleine cookie was published in 1758, the chocolate chip cookie was invented nearly two centuries later by Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1938.

From Salon • Jan. 23, 2023

She offered the squirrel a morsel of petite madeleine.

From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood