gingerbread

Etymology

From Middle English gyngebred, gyngebrede, from Old French gingembras, gingimbrat (“preserved ginger”), from Medieval Latin *gingimbrātus (“gingered”, presumably referring to ginger that perhaps had a pharmaceutical use for some medicinal preparation), with intrusive m added to gingiber, from Latin zingiber (“ginger”), of earlier Sanskrit origin, through Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερις (zingíberis). The third syllable was early confounded with bread, and the insertion of an r in the second syllable completed the semblance of a compound word: ginger + bread.

noun

1. (food) A type of cake whose main flavoring is ginger.
2. (figurative, obsolete) Something ersatz; something showy but insubstantial.
3. (architecture) A flamboyant Victorian-era architectural style.
   For a time modern architects took a starkly functional approach to the design of houses, emphasizing clean, uncluettered lines and rejecting most forms of wall ornamentation as dust-catching gingerbread. 1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, page 37