monkey bread

noun

plural monkey breads
: a bread or cake made from small balls of dough with a sweet or savory coating that are pressed together before baking and easily pulled apart for eating
To serve, cut the monkey bread into slices, or you can pull it apart with your fingers.Emily Derrenbacker
… Dottie presses cinnamon sugar-coated dough balls into a tube pan for her famous monkey bread—a sticky, raisin-dotted ring glistening with dark caramel.Victoria Abbott Riccardi
Little did I know … that there are so many varieties of monkey bread (pizza, s'mores … pretzel, etc.).Jennifer Christman

Word History

Etymology

so called because the bread is eaten by pulling off pieces with the fingers, as if it were being eaten by a monkey

First Known Use

1952, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of monkey bread was in 1952

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Monkey bread.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monkey%20bread. Accessed 28 Aug. 2026.

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