bread

Meaning

Noun

1. A foodstuff made by baking dough made from cereals.
2. Food; sustenance; support of life, in general.
3. Any variety of bread.
4. (slang) Money.

Verb

To coat with breadcrumbs.

Verb

To make broad; spread.

Verb

To form in meshes; net.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bɹɛd/

Etymology

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”).