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• meringue
  meringue

  noun

  a delicate, frothy mixture made with beaten egg whites and sugar or hot syrup, and browned, used as a topping for pies, pastry, etc.
• méringue
  méringue

  noun

  merengue.

meringue

¹ American  

[muh-rang] / məˈræŋ /

noun

• meringues
  plural

1. a delicate, frothy mixture made with beaten egg whites and sugar or hot syrup, and browned, used as a topping for pies, pastry, etc.

2. a pastry or pastry shell made by baking such a mixture, sometimes filled with fruit, whipped cream, etc.

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méringue ² American  

[may-rang] / meɪˈræŋ /

noun

méringued, méringuing

1. merengue.

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meringue British  

/ məˈræŋ /

noun

1. stiffly beaten egg whites mixed with sugar and baked, often as a topping for pies, cakes, etc

2. a small cake or shell of this mixture, often filled with cream

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unmeringued
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• meringues
  plural

Etymology

Origin of meringue¹

1700–10; < French méringue; perhaps to be identified with dial. (Walloon) maringue shepherd's loaf, marinde food for an outdoor repast (< Latin merenda light afternoon meal, probably feminine gerund of merere to merit, such a meal being part of a laborer's wages), though certain evidence is lacking; association with the town of Meiringen (Bern canton, Switzerland) is solely by folk etymology

Origin of méringue²

< French < Haitian Creole

Explanation

Meringue is a very sweet dessert or dessert topping that's made out of egg whites and sugar. Meringue is so light and airy that it melts on your tongue. To make a meringue, you need to beat egg whites with sugar until they're thick and hold stiff peaks. After baking, a good meringue will be delicately crisp on the outside, and soft on the inside. You might like lemon meringue pie, or chocolate meringue cookies. The origin of the word meringue, aside from its birth as the French méringue, is unclear. Meringue was reportedly invented in eighteenth century Switzerland and perfected in Italy.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

meringue méringue meringues

"Ultimately this was a tremendous debut performance from the new mistress of meringue, showing a side of Nigella we have not seen before: quirky, commanding, funny – but also humane," she concluded.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

Bandopadhyay likens a low-mass star to a fluffy meringue.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026

The shindig included a three-tiered pink cake, pink cocktails garnished with meringue that looked like clouds and balloons galore.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026

At home, however, poaching islands of meringue has always felt like too much messy work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026

Last night George had eaten two plates of roast beef, veal and ham pie, carrots sweet as candy, and a mysterious dessert called meringue pudding.

From "I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912" by Lauren Tarshis

Turn the cream out on an earthen dish and cover every part with the méringue.

From Miss Parloa's New Cook Book by Maria Parloa

A cottage pudding with a little shredded orange peel, nuts, or cocoanut in it, or with a chocolate, wine, or méringue sauce, will be an agreeable change from the plain pudding with hard sauce.

From The Century Cook Book by Mary Ronald

The méringue paste alluded to as used by foreign confectioners is made by beating the white of an egg with a tablespoonful of powdered sugar until stiff.

From Choice Cookery by Catherine Owen

Currant Water-Ice.—A pint of currant juice, a pint of syrup, and the whites of three eggs made into méringue paste.

From Choice Cookery by Catherine Owen

This technique keeps the unique cloud-like character of the meringues while allowing the team to make them in advance of service.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026

He heaped silver- and gold-rimmed porcelain serving platters with cookies, meringues, chocolates and nuts, and placed them below a tower of French macarons from Ladurée.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 13, 2022

The meringues are made by whipping together egg whites, cream of tartar, and sugar, then spooned into warm milk for just a minute or two.

From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2022

She sells fresh fruit like mangos, mamoncillos and nances, as well as roasted cashews, brightly colored meringues and toys for children.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2022

With the leftover egg whites, she fashions star-shaped meringues, which she serves with the ice cream day after day, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García