food

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fuːd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fode, inherited from Old English fōda (“food, nourishment”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *fōdōn,^[3][2] a formation found only in English;^[5][6] the other Germanic languages have words formed on the verb behind feed.^[5] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *pat-, an extension of *pā- (“to feed”),^[2][7] the root of Latin pābulum (“food, fodder”), pānis (“bread”) and pāscere (“to feed, graze”).^[7][8] It is related to fodder and foster.^[9][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Food, nourishment, and also fuel: Old English fōda, about 1000, in Ælfric's works.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Old English fōda could also be used figuratively^[2] and for a person's livelihood, a sense now obsolete.^[12] The Middle English fode is probably from before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle;^[3] foode appears before 1387 and food in 1420.^[3] Food meant a particular kind of food from 1393,^[12] and solid food as opposed to drink from 1610.^[12] It was used of what plants take from soil and air from 1759.^[12] Food for thought dates from the early 19th century.^[9] Modern compounds include food poisoning (1864), food chain (1915), food stamp (1962) and food processor (1973).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English fōda (Ælfric).^[3]
• before 1200 – Middle English fode.^[3]
• 1393 – a kind of food.^[12]
• 1420 – the spelling food.^[3]
• 1610 – solid food as opposed to drink.^[12]
• 1759 – nutrients of plants.^[12]
• 1864 – food poisoning.^[2]
• 1915 – food chain.^[2]
• 1973 – food processor.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Material, mostly of plant or animal origin, that a living thing takes in to get energy and to grow; nourishment.
2. A particular kind of nourishment: plant food.
3. Nourishment in solid form, as distinct from drink.
4. Something that feeds the mind: food for thought.

Word family

• foodless
• foodlessness
• fast-food
• foodaholic
• foodie
• foodstuff
• frankenfood
• nonfood

Related words

• feed
• fodder
• foster
• pasture
• pastor
• pabulum

Usage notes

RHWU calls food the general word, and compares fare, the whole range of foods available, provisions, a store of food laid in beforehand, and rations, a fixed allowance.^[11]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press