margarine

Etymology

It is borrowed from French margarine,^[2][3][4][5] the French chemists' name for a fat, margarin, applied to the butter substitute through a misconception about its chemical nature.^[2][6] The chemical term was coined in 1813 by Chevreul^[3][2] from margarique, as in acide margarique, margaric acid,^[3][4][7] named after Ancient Greek μάργαρον (márgaron, “pearl”)^[5][8][1] or μαργαρίτης (margarítēs, “pearl”),^[4][9][2] for the pearly lustre of the acid's crystals.^[9][4][7] The American Heritage Dictionary takes márgaron as probably a back-formation from margarítēs.^[5] Barnhart notes that the French word was first used in oléomargarine (1854),^[4] the source of oleomargarine; the OED quotes the 1869 patent of A. M. Mège, who wrote that his fat was composed, like butter, of margarine, olein and a little odorous oil.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A butter substitute made from emulsified fats: 1873, in a United States patent.^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline give the same year;^[4][3] Merriam-Webster's 1836 refers to the older chemical sense.^[10][3]

Semantic evolution

Ayto writes that margarine was invented in 1869 by the French food technologist Hippolyte Mège-Mouries, and that the earliest margarine was made from clarified beef fat.^[9] Klein notes that the name rests on the mistaken idea that all oils and fats contain margaric acid,^[11] and the chemical sense of margarin was given up by 1890.^[2][3] In 1874 Punch praised the Paris merchant who sold "Margarine as a substitute for Butter".^[3] The word was first pronounced with a hard g, as spelt:^[12][2] the OED of 1905 gives only that pronunciation, which became rare in the later 20th century.^[2] The soft g was noted in 1902 as a common mispronunciation of oleomargarine and was recorded for margarine in 1913, together with the stress on the last syllable usual outside North America; the short form marge implies it by 1922.^[2][12][9] Barnhart explains the soft g by the influence of words like margin and the pairs Margaret and Margie.^[4] From 1891 margarine was used as an adjective meaning sham or counterfeit;^[2][13] since 1918 it has also been a verb, to spread bread with margarine.^[2]

Timeline

• 1873 – a butter substitute made from fats.^[2][4][3]
• 1891 – adjective, sham, counterfeit.^[2]
• 1918 – verb, to spread with margarine.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spread used in place of butter, made from vegetable oils or animal fats emulsified with water or milk.^[14][10][2]

Verb

1. To spread bread or toast with margarine.^[2][6]

Adjective

1. Sham or counterfeit.^[2][13]

Related words

• Margaret
• margarita
• margarite
• marguerite
• margarin
• margaric
• oleomargarine
• marge

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins