Marzipan
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A confection made from a paste of almonds, sugar and egg white as a binder. uncountable, usually
- 2 almond paste and egg whites wordnet
- 3 A similar confection made using another nut, such as peanut or hazelnut. uncountable, usually
"Place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and grill […] then grind finely […] then add the caster sugar and ground hazelnuts [to egg whites] and mix to a stiff marzipan paste. Sandwich the pecan nuts together in pairs with a little of the hazelnut marzipan."
- 4 A piece of such a confection. countable, usually
"One afternoon not long afterwards you waited byher bedside as she swam through anesthetic. A box of cherry chocolates and a dozen roses in your lap. Cherry chocolates and chocolate-covered marzipans. Then you drove her home. Chocolate-covered marzipans being her favorite."
- 1 To cover with marzipan. transitive
"a marzipanned cake"
Example
More examples"Roses are indeed useful flowers, especially when they consist of marzipan."
Etymology
Borrowed from German Marzipan, from Italian marzapane, Venetan marzapane. Believed to be, with influence from pane (“bread”), derived from Arabic مَرْطَبَان (marṭabān, “spice box”) which comes from the name of a Burmese port known for its spice exports, Martaban, now called in Burmese မုတ္ထမ (muthta.ma.).
Related phrases
More for "marzipan"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.