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breakfast

Etymology and origin of the English word breakfast

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1463

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈbrek.fəst/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of break and fast “abstinence from food”,[2][3][4] formed from the verb phrase breken faste, “to end one's fast of the night”,[5][6] recorded before 1393 in Gower's Confessio Amantis.[5] The short vowel of break in the compound is the common pattern of a long vowel in the simple word but a short one as the first part of a compound, as in Christ and Christmas, holy and holiday.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first meal of the day: breffast in 1463 in the OED and Barnhart,[7][5] brekefaste in 1472.[5]

Semantic evolution

Old English had no special word in its glossaries for the first meal.[5] Etymonline gives undernmete and morgenmete, a morning meal.[6] Some scholars have suggested that the verb phrase was modelled on French déjeuner, but Barnhart thinks this unlikely, since the phrase already existed in English.[5] A meal ending a fast at any time of day is from 1526,[7] and a wedding breakfast from 1848.[7] The verb, to eat breakfast, is from 1679,[7][5] and to provide with breakfast from 1793.[7][6] Etymonline notes that words for breakfast tend in time to move toward “lunch”, as Spanish almuerzo did.[6]

Timeline

  • a. 1393 – breken faste.[5]
  • 1463 – the morning meal.[7][5]
  • 1526 – any meal ending a fast.[7]
  • 1679 – verb, to eat breakfast.[7][5]
  • 1793 – to provide with breakfast.[7][6]
  • 1848 – a wedding breakfast.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The first meal of the day, usually eaten in the morning.
  2. The food eaten at this meal.

Verb

  1. To eat breakfast.
  2. To give breakfast to.

Word family

  • breakfaster
  • breakfastless
  • postbreakfast
  • brunch
  • bed-and-breakfast
  • continental breakfast
  • English breakfast
  • dog's breakfast

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Breakfast.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/breakfast. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·