# muffin

/ˈməfən/ (US) · /mˈʌfɪn/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/muffin
Updated: 2026-08-15

## Senses

### 1. sweet cake-like bread

noun · CEFR A2

a small, sweet bread shaped like a cupcake, often containing fruit or chocolate.

For teachers: a small, individual-sized quick bread, often sweetened and containing ingredients like blueberries or bran, typically baked in a cup-shaped tin.

- I grabbed a blueberry muffin and a coffee on my way to work.
- The bakery specialises in oversized bran muffins that are surprisingly moist despite their high fibre content.

### 2. flat toasted bread

noun · CEFR B1 · British English

a flat, round bread roll that is usually cut in half and toasted.

For teachers: a flat, circular, yeast-leavened bread, typically toasted and served with butter; often referred to as an 'English muffin' outside the UK.

- He toasted a muffin and spread it with plenty of butter and jam.
- For a traditional breakfast, the chef served poached eggs on a toasted muffin with a side of hollandaise sauce.

### 3. term of endearment

noun · CEFR B2 · Informal · Humorous

a sweet name you call someone you love, like a partner or a child.

For teachers: a term of endearment used to address a loved one, typically a romantic partner or a small child.

- Don't worry about the mess, muffin, I'll help you clean it up.
- While some find it cloying, he frequently uses 'muffin' as a pet name for his youngest daughter.

### 4. computing mechanism

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical

a technical tool in some computer programs that works like a 'cookie' to save information.

For teachers: a mechanism in the Java Network Launching Protocol (JNLP) that functions similarly to a browser cookie, allowing local data persistence.

- The application uses a muffin to store the user's local preferences.
- The developer implemented a muffin to ensure that the client-side state was preserved across different sessions of the web-start application.

## Examples

- I ate a blueberry muffin for breakfast.
- The bakery sells a wide variety of fresh muffins, including bran, chocolate chip, and lemon poppy seed.
- While the American variety resembles a small cake, the English muffin is a flatter, yeast-leavened bread that is typically split and toasted before serving.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.