What does "bread" mean?

1. (baked food) a common food made by baking a mixture of flour, water, and usually yeast. 2. (money) a slang word for money. 3. (basic needs) the basic food or money you need to live. 4. (to coat in crumbs) to cover food with breadcrumbs before frying or baking it.

bread — meaning, definition & examples

Word

01baked food

A1 · Beginner Uncountable noun Cooking

n. a common food made by baking a mixture of flour, water, and usually yeast.

n. a staple food prepared from a dough of ground cereal, typically wheat, which is leavened and baked.

“He bought a fresh loaf of bread from the bakery on his way home.”

“Artisan bakers often use sourdough starters instead of commercial yeast to give the bread a more complex flavour and firmer texture.”

Synonyms

loaf

02money

C1 · Advanced Uncountable noun Slang · Informal

n. a slang word for money.

n. a slang term for money or financial resources.

“He's working two jobs because he needs to make some bread for his new car.”

“In mid-century jazz culture, the term 'bread' became a ubiquitous synonym for the earnings from a performance.”

Teaching tip

This usage is somewhat dated but still widely understood in American and British slang; it is very informal.

Synonyms

cash dough money

03basic needs

B2 · Upper Intermediate Uncountable noun Literary

n. the basic food or money you need to live.

n. food or sustenance in a general sense; often used figuratively to represent the basic necessities of life.

“The workers were just trying to earn their daily bread.”

“The poet used the image of 'breaking bread' to symbolise the peace and community found in a shared meal.”

Synonyms

sustenance livelihood

04to coat in crumbs

B2 · Upper Intermediate Cooking

v. to cover food with breadcrumbs before frying or baking it.

v. to coat a piece of food in breadcrumbs prior to cooking.

“You should bread the chicken before putting it in the frying pan.”

“The chef recommended that we bread the fish lightly to ensure the delicate flavour of the sea bass was not overwhelmed by no means overwhelmed.”

Usage

This is a transitive verb that requires a direct object.

Synonyms

coat crust

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁-der.? Proto-Germanic *braudą Proto-West Germanic *braud Old English brēad Middle English bred English bread 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 Brod, 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 hlaf), a process which similarly occured in other languages such as German.

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”).