gingerbread

gingerbread
gingerbread late 13c., gingerbrar, from O.Fr. ginginbrat "ginger preserve," from M.L. gingimbratus "gingered," from gingiber (see GINGER (Cf. ginger)). The ending changed by folk etymology to -brede "bread," a formation attested by mid-14c. Originally "preserved ginger," the meaning "a kind of spiced cake" is from 15c. Figurative use, "showy, insubstantial" is from c.1600. Sense of "fussy decoration on a house" is first recorded 1757; gingerbread-work (1748) was a sailor's term for carved decoration on a ship.

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • gingerbread — [13] The idea that gingerbread does not much resemble bread is entirely justified by the word’s history. For originally it was gingebras (a borrowing from Old French), and it meant ‘preserved ginger’. By the mid 14th century, by the process known …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • gingerbread — [13] The idea that gingerbread does not much resemble bread is entirely justified by the word’s history. For originally it was gingebras (a borrowing from Old French), and it meant ‘preserved ginger’. By the mid 14th century, by the process known …   Word origins

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