mélange

noun

mé·​lange mā-ˈlänj  mā-ˈläⁿzh 

: a mixture often of incongruous elements

a mélange of architectural styles

Did you know?

Mélange got mixed into the melting pot of English back in the 1600s. It derives from the Middle French verb mesler, which means "to mix." "Mélange" is actually one of several French contributions to the English body of words for miscellaneous mixtures. "Pastiche" (meaning "a composition made up of selections of different works," or broadly, "a disorderly mixture, hodgepodge") is borrowed from French, and "medley" and "potpourri" have roots in French, too. There's also the lesser known "gallimaufry" (meaning "hodgepodge"), which comes from the Middle French galimafree (meaning "stew").

Synonyms of mélange

• medley
• jumble
• collage
• variety

Examples of mélange in a Sentence

a mélange of colors and shapes

a mélange of architectural styles

Recent Examples on the Web

While Bad Bunny’s previous albums also fused different genres — including bossa nova, mambo, rock, merengue and more — this album’s melange was more homegrown. —Maria Sherman, Chicago Tribune, 2 Jan. 2026

The ones made by Graf Lantz have a tidy, contemporary look that plays well with both bold and restrained design preferences, and come in an expressive melange of colors and shapes. —Alaina Chou, Bon Appetit Magazine, 27 Nov. 2025

Yet the songs, situated in the melange of Black music, cohered through D’Angelo’s resolve. —Vann R. Newkirk Ii, The Atlantic, 18 Oct. 2025

For the outing, Kidman wore oversized sunglasses, a grey melange baseball cap with a matching zip-up jacket, and black leggings. —Jen Juneau, PEOPLE, 2 Oct. 2025

Lueder Designer Marie Lueder was inspired by a melange of things this season — intimate gatherings, medieval carnivals, intense football matches. —Violet Goldstone, Footwear News, 24 Sep. 2025

Serge’s new painting, a barely discernible melange of white brushstrokes, is but a fuse that ignites lingering resentments about class, women, and philosophy among the trio. —Christopher Barnard, Vogue, 17 Sep. 2025

Meanwhile, at Café Central, waiters dressed in waistcoats serve melange (a famed Viennese coffee) beneath vaulted ceilings once frequented by Trotsky and Freud. —Lewis Nunn, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025

What remains at least semi-constant is the music, an alternately gliding and lurching melange of early 1980s soft-rock pop, and Lloyd Webber-ian operetta. —Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, "act of mixing, mixture," going back to Middle French meslinges, meslanges (plural), from mesler, meler "to mix" + -ange, deverbal action noun suffix (as in Old French loange "praise," vuidange "emptying, outlet"), borrowed from Old Low Franconian *-inga-, *-unga-, going back to Germanic *-ingō, *-ungō — more at meddle, -ing entry 1

First Known Use

1653, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

mélange

noun

mé·​lange mā-ˈlänzh  -ˈlänj 

: a mixture often of dissimilar elements