Meanings
nounbreakfast (countable and uncountable, plural breakfasts)
plural breakfasts
- countableuncountableThe first meal of the day, usually eaten in the morning.
You should put more protein in her breakfast so she will grow.
4 more examples
I had an early dinner because the breakfast in this hostel is superb.
A ſorry Breakfaſt for my Lord Protector.
1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 125, column 2His servant then flew like lightning and returned with a fine breakfast of wine and milk, and beautiful white bread and fruits, and such other things as little boys are fond of.
1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 293Peter, after the manner of man at the breakfast table, had allowed half his kedgeree to get cold and was sniggering over a letter. Sophia looked at him sharply. The only letter she had received was from her mother. Sophia’s mother was not a humourist.
1921, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC - countableuncountableThe celebratory meal served after a wedding (and occasionally after other solemnities e.g. a funeral).
- countableuncountablelargely obsolete outside religionA meal eaten after a period of (now often religious) fasting.
The wolves will get a breakfast by my death.
1684, John Dryden, “Amaryllis”, in Miscellany Poems
verbbreakfast (third-person singular simple present breakfasts, present participle breakfasting, simple past and past participle breakfasted)
present singular third person breakfasts · participle present breakfasting · participle past breakfasted · past breakfasted
- intransitiveTo eat the morning meal.
May 14, 1689, Matthew Prior, epistle to Fleetwood Shephard Esq. First, sir, I read, and then I breakfast.
2 more examples
“Oh, he set off the moment he had breakfasted![…]”
1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter I, in Jane Eyre. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 12Fifty years ago, the traveller might breakfast well at home in London, and take nothing more than a cup of coffee at King's Cross.
1941 August, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The English Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 356 - transitiveTo serve breakfast to.
By seven-thirty she had breakfasted them, provided each with a packed lunch and Thermoses of coffee and tea
1987, Anne McCaffrey, The Lady: A Tale of Ireland, page 269
Synonyms & antonyms
Similar
Origin
- Old Englishfæstenbryċe
- Middle Englishbrekefast
- Englishbreakfast
From Middle English brekefast, brekefaste, equivalent to break + fast (literally, "to end the nightly fast"), likely a variant of Old English fæstenbryċe, (literally, "fast-breach"). Cognate with Dutch breekvasten (“breakfast”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans ontbyt, oggendete
- ontbytfirst meal of the day
- oggendetefirst meal of the day
- brekfisfirst meal of the day
- vroegstukfirst meal of the day
- vroegkosfirst meal of the day
- môrestukfirst meal of the day
Ancient Greek ἄριστον, ἀκράτισμα
- ἄριστον (áriston)first meal of the day
- ἀκράτισμα (akrátisma)first meal of the day
- ἀριστάω (aristáō)to eat the morning meal
- ἀκρατίζομαι (akratízomai)to eat the morning meal
- ἀριστοποιέομαι (aristopoiéomai)to eat the morning meal
Arabic إِفْطَار, فَطُور
- إِفْطَار (ʔifṭār)first meal of the day
- فَطُور (faṭūr)first meal of the day
- فَطَرَ (faṭara)to eat the morning meal
Basque gosari, gosaldu
- gosarifirst meal of the day
- gosalduto eat the morning meal
Bengali নাস্তা, প্রাতরাশ
- নাস্তা (nasta)first meal of the day
- প্রাতরাশ (pratoraś)first meal of the day
- ছোট হাজরি (chōṭ hajri)first meal of the day
- নাশ্তা খাওয়া (naśta khaōẇa)to eat the morning meal
- হাজরি খাওয়া (hajri khaōẇa)to eat the morning meal
Bulgarian заку́ска, заку́свам
- заку́ска (zakúska)first meal of the day
- заку́свам (zakúsvam)to eat the morning meal
- заку́ся (zakúsja)to eat the morning meal
Catalan esmorzar, esmorzar
- esmorzarfirst meal of the day
- esmorzarto eat the morning meal
Chinese Cantonese 早飯 /早饭, 早餐
- 早飯 /早饭 (zou² faan⁶)first meal of the day
- 早餐 (zou² caan¹)first meal of the day
Chinese Mandarin 早飯 /早饭, 早餐
- 早飯 /早饭 (zǎofàn)first meal of the day
- 早餐 (zǎocān)first meal of the day
Czech snídaně, snídat
- snídaněfirst meal of the day
- snídatto eat the morning meal
Danish morgenmad
- morgenmadfirst meal of the day
Dutch ontbijt, ochtendmaal n or ochtendmaaltijd
- ontbijtfirst meal of the day
- ochtendmaal n or ochtendmaaltijdfirst meal of the day
- ochtendetenfirst meal of the day
- morgenmaal n or morgenmaaltijdfirst meal of the day
- morgenetenfirst meal of the day
- vroegstukfirst meal of the day
- vroegkost n or vroekostfirst meal of the day
- breekvastenfirst meal of the day
- petit déjeunerfirst meal of the day
- inbeet n or inbijtfirst meal of the day
- ontbijtento eat the morning meal
Esperanto matenmanĝo, matenmanĝi
- matenmanĝofirst meal of the day
- matenmanĝito eat the morning meal
Estonian hommikueine, hommikusöök
- hommikueinefirst meal of the day
- hommikusöökfirst meal of the day
Finnish aamupala, aamiainen
- aamupalafirst meal of the day
- aamiainenfirst meal of the day
- syödä aamiainento eat the morning meal
- aamiaistaato eat the morning meal
French petit déjeuner, déjeuner
- petit déjeunerfirst meal of the day
- déjeunerfirst meal of the day
- prendre le petit-déjeunerto eat the morning meal
German Frühstück, Zmorgen
- Frühstückfirst meal of the day
- Zmorgenfirst meal of the day
- Morgenessenfirst meal of the day
- frühstückento eat the morning meal
Greek πρωινό, πρόγευμα
- πρωινό (proïnó)first meal of the day
- πρόγευμα (prógevma)first meal of the day
- προγευματίζω (progevmatízo)to eat the morning meal
Hawaiian ʻaina kakahiaka
- ʻaina kakahiakafirst meal of the day
Hebrew ארוחת בוקר, אֲרוּחָת בֹּקֶר
- ארוחת בוקרfirst meal of the day
- אֲרוּחָת בֹּקֶר (arukhát bóker)first meal of the day
Hindi नाश्ता, कलेवा
- नाश्ता (nāśtā)first meal of the day
- कलेवा (kalevā)first meal of the day
Hungarian reggeli, früstök
- reggelifirst meal of the day
- früstökfirst meal of the day
- reggelizikto eat the morning meal
Icelandic morgunmatur, morgunverður
- morgunmaturfirst meal of the day
- morgunverðurfirst meal of the day
- árbíturfirst meal of the day
Indonesian sarapan, sarap
- sarapanfirst meal of the day
- sarapto eat the morning meal
- menyarapto eat the morning meal
Irish bricfeasta, céadphroinn
- bricfeastafirst meal of the day
- céadphroinnfirst meal of the day
- béile maidinefirst meal of the day
- cuid na maidinefirst meal of the day
Italian colazione, prima colazione
- colazionefirst meal of the day
- prima colazionefirst meal of the day
- fare colazioneto eat the morning meal
Japanese 朝食, 朝御飯
- 朝食 (chōshoku)first meal of the day
- 朝御飯 (asagohan)first meal of the day
- 朝飯 (asameshi)first meal of the day
- 朝食を摂る (chōshoku o toru)to eat the morning meal
Korean 아침, 아침밥
- 아침 (achim)first meal of the day
- 아침밥 (achimbap)first meal of the day
- 아침 식사 (achim siksa)first meal of the day
- 조반 (joban)first meal of the day
- 조식 (josik)first meal of the day
- 아침을 먹다 (achim-eul meokda)to eat the morning meal
- 아침밥을 먹다 (achimbab-eul meokda)to eat the morning meal
- 아침 식사를 하다 (achim siksa-reul hada)to eat the morning meal
- 아침을 드시다 (achim-eul deusida)to eat the morning meal
- 아침을 잡수시다 (achim-eul japsusida)to eat the morning meal
- 아침밥을 잡수시다 (achimbab-eul japsusida)to eat the morning meal
- 아침 식사를 하시다 (achim siksa-reul hasida)to eat the morning meal
- 아침밥을 드시다 (achimbab-eul deusida)to eat the morning meal
- 아침 식사를 드시다 (achim siksa-reul deusida)to eat the morning meal
Latin prandium, ientāculum
- prandiumfirst meal of the day
- ientāculumfirst meal of the day
- ientōto eat the morning meal
Latvian brokastis, brokastot
- brokastisfirst meal of the day
- brokastotto eat the morning meal
Lithuanian pusryčiai
- pusryčiaifirst meal of the day
Malay sarapan, برسارڤن
- sarapanfirst meal of the day
- برسارڤنto eat the morning meal
- bersarapanto eat the morning meal
Māori parakuihi, parakuihi
- parakuihifirst meal of the day
- parakuihito eat the morning meal
Norwegian Bokmål frokost
- frokostfirst meal of the day
Polish śniadanie, jeść śniadanie
- śniadaniefirst meal of the day
- jeść śniadanieto eat the morning meal
- zjeść śniadanieto eat the morning meal
- śniadaćto eat the morning meal
Portuguese café da manhã, pequeno-almoço
- café da manhãfirst meal of the day
- pequeno-almoçofirst meal of the day
- desjejumfirst meal of the day
- mata-bichofirst meal of the day
- desjejuarto eat the morning meal
- tomar o café da manhãto eat the morning meal
- tomar o pequeno-almoçoto eat the morning meal
Romanian mic dejun, lua micul dejun
- mic dejunfirst meal of the day
- lua micul dejunto eat the morning meal
Russian за́втрак, за́втракать
- за́втрак (závtrak)first meal of the day
- за́втракать (závtrakatʹ)to eat the morning meal
- поза́втракать (pozávtrakatʹ)to eat the morning meal
Scottish Gaelic bracaist
- bracaistfirst meal of the day
Slovak raňajky, frištuk
- raňajkyfirst meal of the day
- frištukfirst meal of the day
- frištikfirst meal of the day
- fruštikfirst meal of the day
- raňajkovaťto eat the morning meal
Spanish desayuno, parva
- desayunofirst meal of the day
- parvafirst meal of the day
- desayunarto eat the morning meal
Swahili chakula cha asubuhi, kiamsha kinywa
- chakula cha asubuhifirst meal of the day
- kiamsha kinywafirst meal of the day
- kifungua kinywafirst meal of the day
- staftahifirst meal of the day
Swedish frukost, frulle (brekkie)
- frukostfirst meal of the day
- frulle (brekkie)first meal of the day
- äta frukostto eat the morning meal
Tagalog almusál, agahan
- almusálfirst meal of the day
- agahanfirst meal of the day
Tamil காலையுண்டி
- காலையுண்டி (kālaiyuṇṭi)first meal of the day
Thai ข้าวเช้า, อาหารเช้า
- ข้าวเช้า (kâao-cháao)first meal of the day
- อาหารเช้า (aa-hǎan-cháao)first meal of the day
Turkish kahvaltı, kahvaltı etmek
- kahvaltıfirst meal of the day
- kahvaltı etmekto eat the morning meal
- kahvaltı yapmakto eat the morning meal
Ukrainian сніда́нок, сні́дати
- сніда́нок (snidánok)first meal of the day
- сні́дати (snídaty)to eat the morning meal
- посні́дати (posnídaty)to eat the morning meal
Urdu ناشْتا, ناشْتَہ
- ناشْتا (nāśtā)first meal of the day
- ناشْتَہ (nāśta)first meal of the day
- کَلیوا (kalevā)first meal of the day
- نَہاری (nahārī)first meal of the day
- چاشْت (cāśt)first meal of the day
Vietnamese bữa sáng, ăn sáng
- bữa sángfirst meal of the day
- ăn sángto eat the morning meal
Welsh brecwast, borefwyd
- brecwastfirst meal of the day
- borefwydfirst meal of the day
- brecwastato eat the morning meal
- torri ymprydto eat the morning meal
Yiddish פֿרישטיק, איבערבײַסן
- פֿרישטיק (frishtik)first meal of the day
- איבערבײַסן (iberbaysn)to eat the morning meal
Cite this entry
APA
breakfast. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/breakfast
MLA
“breakfast.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/breakfast. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “breakfast,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/breakfast.
Source: breakfast on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.