Where does “breakfast” come from?
Breakfast comes from Middle English brekefast, combining Middle English fast from Old English fæst (meaning abstinence from food) and Proto-Germanic brekaną (to break), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots bʰreg- and bʰer-.
breakfast (English): The first meal of the day, usually eaten in the...
Definitions
- The first meal of the day, usually eaten in the...
Ancestry of “breakfast”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | brekefast | breakfast |
| 2 | Middle English | fast | fast quickly |
| 3 | Old English | fæste | firmly, fastly, tightly |
| 4 | Old English | -e | forming adverbs from adjectives; -ly |
| 5 | Old English | -en | mæġþ + API → mæġden; cocc + API → cycen, cicen;... |
| 6 | Old Norse | -inn | Used to create adjectives from nouns, meaning... |
| 7 | Proto-Norse | -īna- | — |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | -īnaz | -en |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -iHnos | Creates adjectives of materials |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -no- | adjectival suffix |