madeleine
madeleine Lexical Profile
madeleine Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A small, rich sponge cake of French origin, baked in a special pan that gives it a distinctive scallop-shell shape and often flavored with lemon zest or almonds.
"She served warm, freshly baked madeleines dusted with powdered sugar alongside afternoon tea."
Something, especially a taste, smell, or sensory stimulus, that triggers a sudden, vivid involuntary memory of the past (in allusion to Marcel Proust's novel 'In Search of Lost Time').
"The scent of pine needles and woodsmoke acted as a madeleine, instantly transporting him back to childhood summers at his grandfather's cabin."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-19th century from French madeleine, traditionally named after Madeleine Paulmier, an 18th-century pastry cook from Commercy in northeastern France who baked the cakes for Stanislaus I, the exiled King of Poland and Duke of Lorraine.