noun
madeleine
MADLIHN
noun
1
A small, shell-shaped French sponge cake.
"She served warm madeleines with afternoon tea."
2
Something ordinary that triggers a powerful, unexpected memory.
"The smell of chalk dust was a madeleine that brought back her whole school life."
name
1
A female given name, a French form of Madeline.
How to Use Madeleine
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA small shell-shaped cake — or, more figuratively, any small thing that suddenly unlocks a vivid memory.
Common pairings
a madeleine moment
baked madeleines
Word Forms
madeleines plural
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Etymology
Named after the French given name Madeleine; sense 2 comes from a famous passage in Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time, where a bite of madeleine cake unlocks a flood of childhood memories.