marmalade means 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.
marmalade is pronounced /ˈmɑː.mə.leɪd/.
Why “marmalade” is a great word
A preserve made from citrus fruit, especially bitter oranges, characterized by the suspension of its peel within a translucent jelly and possessing a defining bittersweet flavor. 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"), first attested in English in the 1530s. Unlike "jam," which dissolves fruit into a smooth, sugared pulp, or "conserve," a jumble of mixed fruits and nuts, marmalade is an elegant negotiation between pleasure and pique. It is the sharp, fragrant steam rising from a copper pan, the slow-sinking rind catching the morning light in a jar, the precise, clean bitterness that cuts through the richness of buttered toast—a testament to the understanding that the most enduring comforts are those which retain a trace of their essential sting.
Etymology
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.
noun
- 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.e.g.“lime marmalade”
- Quince jam.
- A cat having orange- or ginger-colored fur.e.g.“We breed our marmalades for a modern taste. Gingers can be tiger-striped, splotched, or all one shade in a choice of spicy colors; […]” — 2005, Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat who Went Bananas, page 201:
verb
- To spread marmalade on.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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