gingerbread
English
gingerbread
gingerbread architecture in Galveston, Texas
Alternative forms
- gingebred (Scottish)
Etymology
From Middle English gyngebred, gyngebrede, from Old French gingembras, gingimbrat (“preserved ginger”), from Medieval Latin *gingimbrātus (“gingered”, presumably referring to ginger that perhaps had a pharmaceutical use for some medicinal preparation), with intrusive m added to gingiber, from Latin zingiber (“ginger”), of earlier Sanskrit origin, through Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερις (zingíberis). The third syllable was early confounded with bread, and the insertion of an r in the second syllable completed the semblance of a compound word: ginger + bread.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɪn(d͡)ʒəbɹɛd/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚbɹɛd/
Audio (GA) (file) - Hyphenation: gin‧ger‧bread
Noun
gingerbread (countable and uncountable, plural gingerbreads)
- (food) A type of cake whose main flavoring is ginger.
- (figuratively, obsolete) Something ersatz; something showy but insubstantial.
- (architecture) A flamboyant Victorian-era architectural style.
- 1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 37:
- For a time modern architects took a starkly functional approach to the design of houses, emphasizing clean, uncluettered lines and rejecting most forms of wall ornamentation as dust-catching gingerbread.
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Derived terms
- cake and gingerbread
- gingerbread cookie
- gingerbreaded
- gingerbread house
- gingerbread husband
- gingerbread man
- gingerbread nut
- gingerbread office
- gingerbread palm
- gingerbread plum
- gingerbread trap
- gingerbread tree
- gingerbread work
- gingerbready
- knight of gingerbread
- lord of gingerbread
- man of gingerbread
- pepper-gingerbread
- take the gilt off the gingerbread
Related terms
- ginger
- gingersnap
Translations
type of cake
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architectural style
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