melange
/məˈlɑnʒ/ noun
Forms melanges
- noun A mixture of different things; a disordered mixture. “The room was a melange of comic books and posters.”
- noun A Viennese coffee speciality, half steamed milk and half coffee.
- noun (geology) A large-scale breccia formed in the accretionary wedge over a subductional environment.
Synonyms
assortment farrago hodgepodge hotchpotch mingle-mangle mishmash mixture omnium-gatherum ragbag odds and ends oddments gallimaufry
Etymology
From French mélange, from Middle French mélange, meslange, from Old French meslance, meslinges (“set of diverse elements”), derived from mescler (“to mingle, mix up”) (modern French mêler), from Vulgar Latin *misculāre, from Latin misceō (“mix”) + -inges, a suffix from Frankish *-ingo (“-ing”). More at mix, -ing.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [F. See Mell, Meddle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “melange”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details