Marceline

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small city in north-central Missouri, United States, known as the hometown of Walt Disney's childhood ; a female first name of French origin
2. A town in north-central Missouri in the United States ; a woman's given name of French origin, popular in English-speaking countries
3. A city located in the north-central part of Missouri in the American Midwest ; a feminine personal name derived from a French or Latin root

Etymology: Behind a Missouri town's name lies a Latin verb for drying up and fading. "Marcere" meant "to wither or shrivel," and its adjective "marcidus" meant "withered." The form passed into French as "marceline," and English took the name from that French source. Its ultimate source is the same root that gives English words like "marcid," meaning wasted or flabby. The name's use for a place rather than a plant or a feeling is the English adoption of the French form.