cake

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A sweet baked food made from flour, sugar, and eggs, often covered with icing.

   She ate a slice of chocolate cake at the birthday party.

2. 2
   noun

   A flat, shaped block of a solid substance.

   There was a fresh cake of soap by the sink.

3. 3
   verb

   To cover something with a thick, hard layer.

   Mud caked his boots after the long walk.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Cake is Scandinavian in origin and entered English in the Middle English period. The earliest cakes were small, flat bread rolls baked hard on both sides by being turned, and the old idea of a rounded, flattened shape survives in compounds such as fishcake and potato cake.

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *kakǭ Old Norse kakabor. Middle English cake English cake From Middle English cake, from Old Norse kaka (“cake”) (compare Norwegian kake, Icelandic/Swedish kaka, Danish kage), from Proto-Germanic *kakǭ, of disputed origin. Likely a distant cognate with kaak. Perhaps related to cookie, kuchen, and quiche. Doublet of coca (pastry).

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary