Bread

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /bɹɛd/

Definitions

1. An essential food product created by mixing flour and water, then baking, commonly consumed as a source of energy and nutrients across diverse cuisines
2. A fundamental dietary item formed from flour and water that can be prepared in numerous styles, providing carbohydrates and fulfilling various culinary roles
3. A staple food made by combining flour with water and baking, often serving as a primary source of carbohydrates in meals worldwide

Etymology: Bread's oldest English sense was not a loaf at all. The Old English "brēad" meant a fragment, a bit or a crumb, and only later came to mean the baked food itself. The word is traced back to a Proto-Germanic form "braudą", and its ancestry is disputed. One possibility links it to a root meaning "to split, beat, hew", the same source as "brittle", so bread would originally have been named for something broken off. Another links it to a root meaning "to boil, brew", which would tie the loaf to fermented, cooked grain. Scholars think the two may have merged. The word's cousins are found across the Germanic languages, including Dutch "brood", German "Brot", Swedish "bröd" and Icelandic "brauð", all meaning bread. Some sources note a possible relationship with the Spanish-derived "broa", a type of corn bread, though this link is uncertain.

Synonyms: loaf, roll, baguette, biscuit, tart

Antonyms: cake, pastry, sweet, dessert, snack