marmalade
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Middle French marmelade, from Portuguese marmelada (“quince jam”), from marmelo (“quince”), from Latin melimēlum (“sweet apple”), from Ancient Greek μελίμηλον (melímēlon, from μέλι (méli, “honey”) + μῆλον (mêlon, “apple”)). A false folk etymology claims that this comes from the French phrase “Marie est malade” (“Mary is ill”), referring to Mary, Queen of Scots, falling ill and being given marmalade to feel better.[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmɑː.mə.leɪd/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmɑɹ.mə.leɪd/
- Hyphenation: mar‧ma‧lade
Audio (US): (file)
Noun
[edit]marmalade (countable and uncountable, plural marmalades)
- A kind of jam made with citrus fruit, distinguished by being made slightly bitter by the addition of the peel and by partial caramelisation during manufacture. Most commonly made with Seville oranges, and usually qualified by the name of the fruit when made with other types of fruit. [from late 15c.]
- lime marmalade
- thick cut marmalade
- 2026 October 26, Archie Mitchell, “Healey vows cheaper marmalade and gherkins in pre-Budget package of ‘everyday fixes’”, in BBC News[2], retrieved 26 October 2026:
- John Healey will remove import taxes on marmalade, gherkins and more than 100 products in a bid to give families “breathing space” with the cost of living at the Budget.
- (obsolete) Quince jam.
- A cat having orange- or ginger-colored fur.
- 2005, Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat who Went Bananas, page 201:
- We breed our marmalades for a modern taste. Gingers can be tiger-striped, splotched, or all one shade in a choice of spicy colors; […]
Hypernyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]citrus jam
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Verb
[edit]marmalade (third-person singular simple present marmalades, present participle marmalading, simple past and past participle marmaladed)
- (transitive) To spread marmalade on.
Translations
[edit]to spread marmalade on
References
[edit]- ^ “Some well-known etymologies are too good to be true”, in The Economist[1], 2 February 2023, archived from the original on 13 September 2025, Culture
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