macaroon

English

Almond and coconut macaroons

Coconut macaroon closeup

Etymology 1

From French macaron. Doublet of macaron.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌmæk.əɹˈuːn/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌmæk.əˈɹun/
• Rhymes: -uːn

Noun

macaroon (plural macaroons)

1. A soft biscuit or cookie prepared with almond or coconut dough.
   • 1838 (date written)​, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 208:

     I will take charge of the cake department, including, if I remember rightly, plum and plain, rout cakes, and macaroons, finger biscuits, and cracknels.

2. Alternative spelling of macaron

Translations

soft biscuit or cookie prepared with almond or coconut dough

• Bulgarian: ореховка f (orehovka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蛋白杏仁餅／蛋白杏仁饼 (dànbái xìngrénbǐng)

• Danish: makron c
• Dutch: bitterkoekje (nl), kokoskoekje (nl), makron (nl) m
• Finnish: macaron (fi), macaron-leivos (fi)
• French: congolais (fr), rocher coco m
• German: Makrone (de) f
• Greek: αμυγδαλωτό (el) n (amygdalotó)
• Italian: amaretto (it)
• Norwegian: makron m
• Polish: makaronik (pl) m
• Russian: минда́льное пече́нье n (mindálʹnoje pečénʹje)
• Spanish: macarrón (es), macarone
• Swedish: makron (sv) c
• Turkish: makaron (tr)

Etymology 2

From Italian macarone.

Noun

macaroon (plural macaroons)

1. (archaic) A coarse, rude, low fellow.
   • 1590s, John Donne, Satire IV, "Well; I may now receive, and die":

     Like a big wife, at sight of lothed meat,

     Ready to travail; so I sigh and sweat,

     To hear this macaroon talk on in vain.

Further reading

• macaroon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia