Meaning & use
stollen
Last updated
UK/ˈʃtɒlən/
US/ˈʃtoʊlən/
Meaning
nouncountable
A rich German fruitcake with dried fruit, nuts, and sometimes marzipan, traditionally eaten at Christmas.
Grammar: Countable: you can say a stollen or two stollen.
Patterns
- a slice of stollen
- Christmas stollen
We bought a stollen at the German bakery for Christmas morning.
This stollen is full of raisins, almonds, and marzipan.
She served slices of stollen with coffee after dinner.
Word forms
| plural | stollens |
|---|
Common combinations
- Christmas stollen
- Christmas stollen is a holiday tradition in Germany.
- a slice of stollen
- He enjoyed a slice of stollen with his tea.
- homemade stollen
- My grandmother makes homemade stollen every December.
- stollen with marzipan
- I prefer stollen with marzipan in the center.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fruitcake
- A general term for any cake with dried fruit; stollen is a specific German type with a distinctive shape and often marzipan.
- Christmas cake
- A British rich fruitcake usually covered in icing; stollen is German, less sweet, and often contains marzipan.
Commonly confused: stollen or stolen?
stollen vs stolen
Stollen is a type of cake; stolen is the past participle of steal. They sound similar but are unrelated.
Practice
What is stollen?
Choose one answer.
Stollen is a rich German fruitcake traditionally eaten at Christmas. The other options describe different baked goods from other countries.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stollen”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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