Meanings
cereal1
plural cereals
- uncountableThe grains of such a grass.
- uncountableBreakfast cereal.
a bowl of cereal
2 more examples
Would you like some cereal?
Which cereal would you like for breakfast?
- countablea brand or type of breakfast cereal.
The supermarket shelf has many different cereals.
- not comparableOf or relating to cereal.
Wheat .. is, of all the cereal seeds, the best adapted to the making of bread.
1818, H[enry] T[homas] Colebrooke, On Import of Colonial Corn, London: J[ohn] Murray, →OCLC, page 20; quoted in “Cereal (sīᵊ·riˌăl), a. and sb.”, in James A[ugustus] H[enry] Murray [et al.], editors, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume II (C), London: Clarendon Press, 1884–1928, →OCLC, page 230, column 13 more examples
Millet, the smallest of all the cereal seeds cultivated for food, grows on arid soils, where rice and maize cannot be successfully cultivated, […]
1837, Henry Duncan, “Eleventh Week—Wednesday. The Corn-Plants.—Rice, Maize, and Millet.”, in Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons; Illustrating the Perfections of God in the Phenomena of the Year, [volume 1] (Spring), Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Son; […], →OCLC, page 333The river flows on, washing the base of the sandstone fossiliferous bank at Preston-bridge,—lightening up the rich valley of Preston-haugh,—lending beauty to the open demesnes of Broomhouse, and to the sylvan and cereal grounds of Blanerne; […]
1853, George Johnston, “The Natural History of the Eastern Borders”, in The Botany of the Eastern Borders, […], London: John Van Voorst, […], →OCLC, page 19The species printed in small capitals are Corn-producing or Cereal Grasses, called Cereals, from Ceres, the Roman goddess of Corn.
1864, Daniel Oliver, “Natural Order—Gramineæ. The Grass Family.”, in Lessons in Elementary Botany. […], London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, part II (Classification of Plants), class II (Monocotyledons), sub-class Glumiferæ, page 267
Cereal2
comparative more Cereal · superlative most Cereal
- Of or relating to the goddess Ceres.
By means of statues and coinage depicting his wife Livia in the guise of Ceres and himself in the Cereal crown of the Arval Brethren, Augustus implied that his own godlike charisma helped keep the plebeians fed […]
2013, Giovanni Casadio, Patricia A. Johnston, Mystic Cults in Magna Graecia
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA type of grass (such as wheat, rice or oats) cultivated for its edible grains.
More synonyms by meaning
noungrass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat, rice, rye, oats, maize, buckwheat, millet
nounfoodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱer-“grow”
- LatinCerealis“of or relating to Ceres”
- Frenchcéréale“having to do with cereal”
- Englishcereal
Borrowed from French céréale (“having to do with cereal”), from Latin Cerealis (“of or relating to Ceres”), from Ceres (“Roman goddess of agriculture”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“grow”), from which also Latin sincerus (English sincere) and Latin crēscō (“grow”) (English crescent). The adjective is equivalent to Cere(s) + -al.
More words from French, Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek σῖτος, ἀκτή
- σῖτος (sîtos)grains of such a grass
- ἀκτή (aktḗ)grains of such a grass
Arabic حُبُوب
- حُبُوب (ḥubūb)grains of such a grass
Basque zereal
- zerealtype of grass
Bulgarian жи́тна култу́ра, зъ́рнени храни́
- жи́тна култу́ра (žítna kultúra)type of grass
- зъ́рнени храни́ (zắrneni hraní)grains of such a grass
- зъ́рно (zắrno)grains of such a grass
- зърно́ (zărnó)grains of such a grass
- жи́то (žíto)grains of such a grass
Catalan cereal, cereals
- cerealtype of grass
- cerealsgrains of such a grass
Chinese Mandarin 穀物 /谷物, 穀類 /谷类
- 穀物 /谷物 (gǔwù)type of grass
- 穀類 /谷类 (gǔlèi)type of grass
- 穀物 /谷物 (gǔwù)grains of such a grass
Czech obilnina, obilí
- obilninatype of grass
- obilígrains of such a grass
Danish korn, kornsort
- korntype of grass
- kornsorttype of grass
- korngrains of such a grass
Esperanto cerealo, cerealo
- cerealotype of grass
- cerealograins of such a grass
Estonian teravili, teravili
- teravilitype of grass
- teraviligrains of such a grass
Finnish vilja, vilja
- viljatype of grass
- viljagrains of such a grass
- viljanjyvägrains of such a grass
French céréale
- céréaletype of grass
German Getreide, Korn
- Getreidetype of grass
- Korntype of grass
- Zerealietype of grass
- Getreidegrains of such a grass
- Korngrains of such a grass
- Fruchtgrains of such a grass
Greek δημητριακά, δημητριακά
- δημητριακά (dimitriaká)type of grass
- δημητριακά (dimitriaká)grains of such a grass
Hebrew דָּגָן
- דָּגָן (dagán)type of grass
Hindi खाद्यान्न, खाद्यान्न
- खाद्यान्न (khādyānn)type of grass
- खाद्यान्न (khādyānn)grains of such a grass
Hungarian gabona, gabonafélék
- gabonatype of grass
- gabonaféléktype of grass
- gabonaneműektype of grass
- gabonanövénytype of grass
- szemesterménytype of grass
- lisztterméktype of grass
- cereáliatype of grass
- gabonagrains of such a grass
- gabonaszemgrains of such a grass
Indonesian sereal
- serealtype of grass
Italian cereale
- cerealetype of grass
Japanese 穀物, 穀物
- 穀物 (kokumotsu)type of grass
- 穀物 (kokumotsu)grains of such a grass
Korean 곡물, 곡물
- 곡물 (gongmul)type of grass
- 곡물 (gongmul)grains of such a grass
Latin sacrificium, frūmentum
- sacrificiumtype of grass
- frūmentumgrains of such a grass
Latvian labība, labība
- labībatype of grass
- labībagrains of such a grass
Lithuanian javas
- javastype of grass
Malay bijian, bijirin
- bijiantype of grass
- bijiringrains of such a grass
Māori pata kai, huapata
- pata kaitype of grass
- huapatagrains of such a grass
Polish zboże, zboże
- zbożetype of grass
- zbożegrains of such a grass
Portuguese cereal, cereais
- cerealtype of grass
- cereaisgrains of such a grass
Romanian cereală, cereală
- cerealătype of grass
- cerealăgrains of such a grass
- grânegrains of such a grass
Russian злак, зернова́я культу́ра
- злак (zlak)type of grass
- зернова́я культу́ра (zernovája kulʹtúra)type of grass
- крупа́ (krupá)grains of such a grass
Slovak obilie
- obiliegrains of such a grass
Spanish cereal, herbal
- cerealtype of grass
- herbaltype of grass
- cerealesgrains of such a grass
- cerealgrains of such a grass
- miesgrains of such a grass
Swahili nafaka
- nafakatype of grass
Swedish sädesslag, korn
- sädesslagtype of grass
- korngrains of such a grass
Tagalog angkak, angkak
- angkaktype of grass
- angkakgrains of such a grass
Thai ธัญพืช
- ธัญพืช (tan-yá-pʉ̂ʉt)type of grass
Turkish tahıl, hububat
- tahıltype of grass
- hububattype of grass
- tahılgrains of such a grass
Ukrainian збі́жжя
- збі́жжя (zbížžja)grains of such a grass
Vietnamese ngũ cốc
- ngũ cốctype of grass
Welsh ŷd, grawn
- ŷdtype of grass
- grawngrains of such a grass
Zulu okusanhlamvu
- okusanhlamvutype of grass
Rhymes & wordplay
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
cereal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cereal
“cereal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cereal. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cereal,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cereal.
Source: cereal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.