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BREAD 1

Etymology 1

From Middle English bred, breed,

from Old English brēad (“fragment, bit, morsel, crumb", also "bread”),

from Proto-West Germanic *braud,

from Proto-Germanic *braudą (“cooked food, leavened bread”),

from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerw-, *bʰrew- (“to boil, seethe”) (see brew).

Alternatively, from Proto-Germanic *braudaz, *brauþaz (“broken piece, fragment”),

from Proto-Indo-European *bʰera- (“to split, beat, hew, struggle”) (see brittle).

Perhaps a conflation of the two.

Cognate with Scots breid (“bread”),

Saterland Frisian Brad (“bread”),

West Frisian brea (“bread”),

Dutch brood (“bread”),

German Brot (“bread”),

Danish and Norwegian brød (“bread”),

Swedish bröd (“bread”),

Icelandic brauð (“bread”),

Albanian brydh (“I make crumbly, friable, soft”),

Latin frustum (“crumb”).

Eclipsed non-native Middle English payn (“bread”), borrowed from Old French pain (“bread”)

Noun

bread (countable and uncountable, plural breads)

  1. (uncountable)
    1. A foodstuff made by baking dough made from cereals.

We made sandwiches with the bread we bought from the bakery.

Any leftover bread can be put into the pudding.

    1. Food; sustenance; support of life, in general. quotations ▼
  1. (countable) Any variety of bread.
  2. (slang, US or Cockney) Money. synonym ▲quotations ▼Synonyms: see Thesaurus:money
Usage notes
Synonyms
Hyponyms

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Derived terms
Verb

bread (third-person singular simple present breads, present participle breading, simple past and past participle breaded)

  1. (transitive) To coat with breadcrumbs.

breaded fish

Derived terms