meal

meal · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*melh₂-
2. Proto-Indo-European*med-
3. Proto-Indo-European*meh₁-
4. Proto-Germanic*mēlą
5. Proto-West Germanic*māl
6. Old Englishmǣl
7. Middle Englishmel
8. English todaymeal

From Middle English mel, from Old English mǣl (“measure, time, occasion, set time, time for eating, meal”), from Proto-West Germanic *māl, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”). Cognate with West Frisian miel, Dutch maal (“meal, time, occurrence”), German Mal (“time”), Mahl (“meal”), Norwegian Bokmål mål (“meal”), Swedish mål (“meal”); and (from Proto-Indo-European) with Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”), Latin mensus, Russian ме́ра (méra, “measure”), Lithuanian mẽtas. Related to Old English mǣþ (“measure, degree, proportion”).

meal · noun, verb²

1. Proto-Indo-European*melh₂-
2. Proto-Germanic*melwą
3. Proto-West Germanic*melu
4. Old Englishmelu
5. Middle Englishmele
6. English todaymeal

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”), Tocharian A/B malywët (“you press”)/melye (“they tread on”), Lithuanian málti, Old Church Slavonic млѣти (mlěti), Ancient Greek μύλη (múlē, “mill”). More at mill.

meal · noun, verb³

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*mey-“to soil”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*mailą“wrinkle, spot”
3. Old English · inherited frommāl
4. Middle English · inherited frommole
5. English todaymeal

Variation of mole (compare Scots mail), from Middle English mole, mool, from Old English māl, mǣl (“spot, mark, blemish”), from Proto-Germanic *mailą (“wrinkle, spot”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to soil”). More at mole.

Words from the same roots