bread
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bread¹
- /brɛd/ Early Modern
- /brɛːd/ Early Modern
- /bɹɛd/ Canada, US, UK
- /bɹed/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like bred · Rhymes with -ɛd
Where it comes from
From Middle English bred, breed, from Old English brēad (“fragment, bit, morsel, crumb", also "bread”), from Proto-West Germanic *braud, from Proto-Germanic *braudą (“bread”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerw-, *bʰrewh₁- (“to boil; to brew”), from *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”). 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. Possibly a doublet of broa.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots breid (“bread”), Yola breed (“bread”), North Frisian bruad, Bruar, brüüdj (“bread”), Saterland Frisian Brood (“bread”), West Frisian brea (“bread”), Alemannic German brot, broud, bruat, bròt, bröt (“bread”), Cimbrian proat, pròat (“bread”), Dutch brood (“bread”), German Brot (“bread”), German Low German Brod, Brood, Broot, Brot, Bräot (“bread”), Limburgish broed (“bread”), Luxembourgish Brout (“bread”), Mòcheno proat (“bread”), Vilamovian brūt (“bread; loaf”), Yiddish ברויט (broyt, “bread”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål brød (“bread”), Elfdalian broð (“bread”), Faroese breyð (“bread”), Icelandic brauð (“bread”), Norn brau, brow (“bread”), Norwegian Nynorsk braud, brød (“bread”), Swedish bröd (“bread”), Crimean Gothic broe (“bread”); also Cornish brys (“thought; mind”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic beir (“bear, give birth to”), Welsh bryd (“aim, intent”), Latin fors (“chance, luck”), Greek φέρνω (férno), φέρω (féro, “to bear, carry”), Albanian brydh (“to ripen, soften; to crumble”), Latvian bērt (“to pour; to scatter, strew”), Lithuanian berti (“to scatter, strew”), Belarusian бру́ха (brúxa, “belly”), Czech břich, břicho, břuch (“belly”), Kashubian brzëch (“belly”), Polish brzuch, brzucho (“belly”), Russian брю́хо (brjúxo, “belly”), Slovak brucho (“belly”), Armenian բերել (berel, “to bring, fetch”), Persian بردن (bordan/burdan, “to bear, carry”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B pär- (“to bear; to wear”), Sanskrit भारयति (bhārayati, “to carry”).
Eclipsed non-native Middle English payn (“bread”), borrowed from Old French pain (“bread”). In this sense, mostly replaced loaf, which had been the more common term in Old English (see hlāf), a process which similarly occured in other languages such as German.
noun breads · breade
- A foodstuff made by baking dough made from cereals.
- Such foodstuff that is not difficult to chew, being not extremely hard, dense, and dry. We made sandwiches with the bread we bought from the bakery.
-
Food; sustenance; support of life, in general.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Similar: staff of life
- Any variety of bread. Some breads are harder and drier than others.
-
Money.
Maybe somebody would see him and recognize him, maybe one of the guys would lay enough bread on him for a meal or at least subway fare.
Similar: ackers, bees and honey, blunt, bones, brass, bread, bread and honey, Bugs Bunny, cake, cheddar, cheese, ching
verb breads · breading · breaded · breade
- To coat with breadcrumbs. breaded fish
bread²
- /brɛd/ Early Modern
- /brɛːd/ Early Modern
- /bɹɛd/ Canada, US, UK
- /bɹed/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like bred · Rhymes with -ɛd
Where it comes from
From Middle English brede (“breadth, width, extent”), from Old English brǣdu (“breadth, width, extent”), from Proto-Germanic *braidį̄ (“breadth”). Cognate with Scots brede, breid (“breadth”), Dutch breedte (“breadth”), German Breite (“breadth”), Swedish bredd (“breadth”), Icelandic breidd (“breadth”).
noun breads
- Breadth.
bread³
- /brɛd/ Early Modern
- /brɛːd/ Early Modern
- /bɹɛd/ Canada, US, UK
- /bɹed/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like bred · Rhymes with -ɛd
Where it comes from
Variant of braid, from Middle English breden, from Old English brēdan, breġdan (“to braid”).
verb breads · breading · breaded · breathe · brede
- To form in meshes; net.
noun breads · breathe · brede
- A piece of embroidery; a braid.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: dough, breadstuff, loot, cabbage, kale, moolah, lucre, pelf, gelt, dinero, shekels, soup, butter, loaf, toast, bun
Translations
Every language
noun baked dough made from cereals
| Español | pan |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 빵 ppang |
| 日本語 | パン pan |
| 中文 | 麵包 /面包 miànbāo |
| हिन्दी | रोटी roṭī, नान nān, ब्रेड breḍ |
| Kiswahili | mkate |
| Português | pão |
| Français | pain |
| Deutsch | Brot |
| Italiano | pane |
| Ελληνικά | ψωμί psomí, άρτος ártos |
| Română | pâine, pâne |
| Русский | хлеб xleb |
| Tiếng Việt | bánh mì, bánh mỳ, bánh tây |
| العربية | خُبْز ḵubz |
| עברית | לֶחֶם lékhem |
noun food, sustenance, support of life, in general
| Kiswahili | riziki |
|---|---|
| Português | pão |
| Français | pain |
| Deutsch | Brot |
| Русский | хлеб xleb |
noun countable: any variety of bread
| Español | pan, zoquete |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | パン |
| 中文 | 麵包 /面包 miànbāo |
| Kiswahili | kipande cha mkate |
| Português | pão |
| Français | pain |
| Deutsch | Brot |
| Ελληνικά | ψωμί psomí, άρτος ártos |
| Русский | хлеб xleb |
Talk about this word "bread." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bread. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026. bread. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bread "bread." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bread.Cite this
@misc{bread_2026,
title = {bread},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bread},
urldate = {2026-11-05}
}
