play cartoon-of-british-nobility
Word History

Why did Yankee Doodle call a feather 'macaroni'?

What's with his feathered cap?


Editor Serenity Carr breaks down the sartorial origins of the famous song "Yankee Doodle" and why it references macaroni.

Transcript:


Have you ever wondered why in the old Yankee Doodle song he puts a feather in his cap and calls it 'macaroni'? In the 1760s, a group of young well-traveled English men who prided themselves in their appearance, sense of style, and manners founded a club in London. At the time, macaroni was a new and exotic food in England and so the young men named their club the Macaroni Club to demonstrate how stylish its members were. The members themselves were called macaronis. And eventually the word macaroni came to mean the same thing as dandy, or "a man who gives exaggerated attention to personal appearance." Like one who wears feathered caps.

Up next

play video how a word gets into the dicionary
How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

What our editors are looking for when they enter words in Merriam-Webster.

play video title words of the year 1066
Words of the Year: 1066

 

English was never the same after the Norman Conquest

play contractions
On Contractions of Multiple Words

 

You all would not have guessed some of these

play hot mess
Hot Mess

 

Our research turned up two archaic literal meanings

play video lay vs lie
Lay vs. Lie

 

Editor Emily Brewster clarifies the difference.

play video mischievous nulcear library mispronunciations
'Mispronunciations' That May Be Fine

 

'Mischievous,' 'nuclear,' and other words to pronounce with caution.