different between matron vs marron

English

Etymology

From Middle English matrone, from Old French matrone, from Latin m?tr?na (“married woman”), from m?ter (“mother”). Doublet of matrona.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?me?t??n/
• Rhymes: -e?t??n

Noun

matron (plural matrons)

1. A mature or elderly woman.

   • grave from her cradle, insomuch that she was a matron before she was a mother

2. A wife or a widow, especially, one who has borne children.
3. A woman of staid or motherly manners.
   • “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, […].

4. A housekeeper, especially, a woman who manages the domestic economy of a public institution.
5. A senior female nurse in an establishment, especially a hospital or school.

6. (US) A female prison officer.

Derived terms

Related terms

• matrona
• matroneum

Translations

References

matron in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Marton, Morant, Rotman, romant

English

Etymology 1

Variant form of maroon (“chestnut”), later reinforced by French marron.

Noun

marron (plural marrons)

1. A sweet chestnut. [from 19th c.]
   • 2007, Craig Silvey, Jasper Jones, Allen & Unwin 2007, p. 137:

     ‘I mean, shit, even if I had've come down here of a weekend and taken back a sack full of marron, I would have killed the pig up there.’

Derived terms

• marron glacé

Etymology 2

Wikispecies

From Nyunga marran.

Noun

marron (plural marrons)

1. Cherax tenuimanus, a type of freshwater crayfish from Western Australia.

Synonyms

• hairy marron, Margaret River marron

See also

• gilgie, jilgie
• yabby, yabbie

Anagrams

• Morran

Dutch

Alternative forms

• Marron

Etymology

Borrowed from French marron (“feral; fugitive”, adjective), from Spanish cimarrón (“fugitive, wild, feral”), from Taíno simaran.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m??r?n/
• Hyphenation: mar?ron
• Rhymes: -?n

Noun

marron m (plural marrons)

1. Maroon (descendant of escaped African slaves in the Americas or Caribbean; escaped slave)

   Synonyms: bosneger, boslandcreool

Finnish

Noun

marron

1. Genitive singular form of marto.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.???/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Italian marrone.

Noun

marron m (plural marrons)

1. horse-chestnut
2. chestnut
3. chestnut brown
4. A token used as a control of the presence of someone at his post
5. (pyrotechnics) firecracker (on a rocket)
6. (informal) punch (with the fist)
7. (informal) head

Adjective

marron (invariable)

1. (France) brown

Usage notes

• This adjective is used mainly in France. Elsewhere, the usual adjective is brun.
• Like most colors that take their name from animals and plants, the adjective is invariable. However, by analogy with the corresponding noun which has a plural, some people may erroneously consider it variable in number and use marrons as the plural.

Derived terms

• marron glacé
• cochon marron

Descendants

• ? Asturian: marrón
• ? Catalan: marró
• ? Galician: marrón
• ? Portuguese: marrom
• ? Spanish: marrón

Etymology 2

From a West Indies creole, from Spanish cimarrón, from cima.

Adjective

marron (feminine singular marronne, masculine plural marrons, feminine plural marronnes)

1. that has become wild again (used of a slave or animal who has returned to a free or wild state)
2. illicit, crooked (of professions)

Noun

marron m (plural marrons, feminine marronne)

1. maroon (a slave or animal who has run away to live free)

Further reading

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