different between gateau vs madeleine

English

Alternative forms

• gâteau

Etymology

Borrowed from French gâteau. Doublet of wastel.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æt??, -??

Noun

gateau (plural gateaux or gateaus)

1. (chiefly Britain) A rich, usually iced, cake.
2. (cooking, obsolete) A dish of minced meat made up like a pudding, and boiled in a shape or mould.

   a gateau of veal

Derived terms

Translations

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French madeleine, from earlier gâteau à la Madeleine, after the given name Madeleine (“Magdalene”), of uncertain reference: attributed in some sources to a 19th-century pastry cook Madeleine Paulmier, whose existence is now considered dubious.

In sense 2, used with reference to the cake's function in the extract below, taken from Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?mad(?)l?n/, /?mad(?)l?n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?mæd?l?n/, /?mæd??le?n/

Noun

madeleine (plural madeleines)

1. A French type of small gateau or sponge cake, often shaped like an elongated scallop shell.
2. (figuratively) Something which brings back a memory; a source of nostalgia or evocative memories.

Translations

Further reading

• “madeleine”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “madeleine” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
• madeleine on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from French madeleine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?del?i?n/, [?m?de?l?i?n]

Noun

madeleine

1. madeleine (small gateau in the shape of a scallop shell)

   Synonym: madeleine-leivos

Declension

French

Etymology

From earlier gâteau à la Madeleine, after the given name Madeleine (“Magdalene”), of uncertain reference: see more above.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.dl?n/

• Rhymes: -?n

Noun

madeleine f (plural madeleines)

1. madeleine (small gateau in the shape of a scallop shell)
2. (figuratively) madeleine (something which brings back a memory)

Derived terms

• pleurer comme une madeleine

Descendants

• ? Catalan: magdalena
• ? English: madeleine
• ? German: Madeleine

Further reading

• “madeleine” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).