meal

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The food eaten at a particular time, such as breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

   We had a delicious meal at the restaurant.

2. 2
   noun

   Grain that has been ground into a coarse powder, used in cooking.

   The bread was made from corn meal.

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Simplified etymology

Meal meaning “the edible part of any grain or pulse” comes from an ancient root shared with Latin molere, “to grind,” and is related to mill. Meal for an occasion when food is eaten has a different root meaning “to measure”; in Old English, meal could also mean “a measure,” a sense preserved in piecemeal.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-der. Proto-Germanic *melwą Proto-West Germanic *melu Old English melu Middle English mele English meal From Middle English mele, from Old English melu (“meal, flour”), from Proto-West Germanic *melu, from Proto-Germanic *melwą (“meal, flour”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, mill”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian moal, Dutch meel, German Mehl, Albanian miell, Proto-Slavic *melvo (“grain to be ground”) (Bulgarian мливо (mlivo)), Dutch malen (“to grind”), German mahlen (“to grind”), Old Irish melim (“I grind”), Latin molō (“to grind”), T…

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary