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Glite Dictionary
English muffin

English muffin

12 1.6
A small, round, flat bread sliced in half and toasted
  • noun
  • /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ ˈmʌfɪn/
translation icon : muffin inglés
  • He enjoyed a delicious egg benedict served on an English muffin.
  • toasted English muffin
  • English muffin with butter
  • split English muffin

Indy, on the other hand, I make her some English muffins with a whole egg scrambled.

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Examples

  • Greg, do you want an English muffin or anything?

    The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)

  • It's a sourdough English muffin with egg, bacon, tomato, anything else, a little hot sauce in it.

  • Do we have any more English muffins?

    Super 8 (2011)

  • Okay, coffee, English muffin, and your water.

    The Game (1997)

  • The Thomas English muffins are on plate number three.

  • I want it on an English muffin, no cheese.

    Sweeney Killing Sweeney (2018)

  • You want this on an English muffin or a bun?

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Get Frank a couple of poached eggs on an English muffin... ...with a side of bacon and a tall glass of fresh orange juice.

    It's Alive (1974)

  • Bethany puts the English muffin down and brushes off her hands.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • For tomorrow, I've got a whole wheat English muffin topped with peanut butter sitting pretty in my fridge right now.

    Blog text (11)

Surface Forms

English muffin singular
English muffins plural

Morphology

English + muffin

The compound is compositional: 'English' (pertaining to England) modifies 'muffin' (a small bread/cake), so a learner who knows both words will understand this denotes a kind of muffin associated with England. Although detailed culinary properties (yeast-leavened, split and toasted) are finer-grained and may not be fully predictable, the basic meaning as a type of muffin is transparent and follows a common noun+modifier pattern.

Etymology

English muffin comes from one popular story: long ago an English baker in New York sold small, round, flat breads and called them English muffins to show they were like the muffins from England. Because people sliced and 'toasted' these little breads before eating, the name stuck and today English muffin means the small, round bread you slice and toast.