lunch

See also: Lunch

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1580; presumably short for luncheon, but earliest found also as lunshin, lunching, equivalent to lunch +‎ -ing, with the suffix -ing later modified to simulate a French origin. Lunch is possibly a derivative of lump (as hunch is from hump. See hunch for more), or represents an alteration of nuncheon, from Middle English nonechenche (“light mid-day meal”) (see nuncheon) and altered by northern English dialect lunch (“hunk of bread or cheese”) (1590), which perhaps is from lump or from Spanish lonja (“a slice”, literally “loin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lʌnt͡ʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌnt͡ʃ

Noun

lunch (countable and uncountable, plural lunches)

1. A light meal usually eaten around midday, notably when not as main meal of the day.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.

2. (cricket) A break in play between the first and second sessions.
3. (Minnesota, US) Any small meal, especially one eaten at a social gathering.

   After the funeral there was a lunch for those who didn't go to the cemetery.

Synonyms

• (midday meal): luncheon; nones (obsolete)

Derived terms

Terms derived from lunch

• liquid lunch

• little lunch

• lunch break

• playlunch

Descendants

• Dutch: lunch
• German: Lunch
• Portuguese: lanche
• Spanish: lonche
• Swedish: lunch

Translations

meal around midday

• Afrikaans: middagete
• Albanian: drekë (sq) f, sillë (sq) f
• Arabic: غَدَاء‎‎ m (ḡadāʾ)

  Hijazi Arabic: غدا‎‎ m (ḡada)

• Armenian: լանչ (lančʿ), ճաշ (hy) (čaš)
• Aromanian: prãndzu
• Asturian: comida (ast) f
• Azerbaijani: günorta yeməyi
• Baluchi: چاشت‎‎ (cášt)
• Basque: bazkari (eu)
• Belarusian: абе́д m (abjéd)
• Bengali: লাঞ্চ (lañc)
• Breton: merenn (br) f
• Bulgarian: обя́д (bg) m (objád)
• Burmese: နေ့လယ်စာ (my) (ne.laica)
• Catalan: dinar (ca) m
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵎⵎⵏⵙⵓ (mmnsu), ⵉⵎⴽⵍⵉ (imkli)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 晏晝, 晏昼 (aan³ zau³)

  Mandarin: 午飯 (zh), 午饭 (zh) (wǔfàn), 午餐 (zh) (wǔcān)

• Czech: oběd (cs) m
• Danish: frokost (da) c
• Dutch: lunch (nl), middageten (nl) n, (licht) middagmaal n
• Esperanto: meztagmanĝaĵo, tagmanĝo
• Estonian: lõuna
• Finnish: lounas (fi)
• French: déjeuner (fr) m, dîner (fr) m (Belgium, Cajun, Swiss and Canadian French, in which "déjeuner" means "breakfast"), lunch (fr) m (more specific)
• Friulian: gustà
• Galician: xantar m
• Georgian: ლანჩი (lanči), მეორე საუზმე (meore sauzme)
• German: Mittagessen (de) n, Lunch (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽𐌹𐌼𐌰𐍄𐍃 (undaurnimats)
• Greek: γεύμα (el) n (gévma), μεσημεριανό (el) n (mesimerianó)

  Ancient: δεῖπνον n (deîpnon) (early usage), ἄριστον n (áriston) (later usage)

• Hawaiian: ʻaina awakea
• Hebrew: אֲרוּחַת צָהֳרַיִם / ארוחת צהריים‎‎ (he) f (arukhát' tsohoráyim)
• Hindi: लंच (hi) m (lañc), दोपहर का खाना m (dophar kā khānā)
• Hungarian: ebéd (hu)
• Icelandic: hádegismatur (is) m, hádegisverður (is) m
• Ido: dejuno (io), dejuneto (io)
• Indonesian: makan siang (id)
• Interlingua: prandio
• Inupiak: aiḷiłiq, qitiqquutaq
• Irish: lón m
• Italian: pranzo (it) m, seconda colazione f
• Japanese: 昼食 (ja) (ちゅうしょく, chūshoku), 昼ご飯 (ja) (ひるごはん, hirugohan), お昼 (ja) (おひる, o-hiru), ランチ (ja) (ranchi), 昼飯 (hirumeshi), 昼餉 (hiruge)
• Kazakh: қонақасы (qonaqası), түскі ас (kk) (tüski as), түскі тамақ (tüski tamaq), түстік (tüstik)
• Khmer: អាហារថ្ងៃត្រង់ (aahaa tŋay trɑŋ)
• Korean: 점심 (ko) (jeomsim) (點心), 중식 (ko) (jungsik) (中食 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: firavîn (ku) f

  Sorani: نانی نیوه‌ڕۆ‎‎ (nanî nîwerro)

• Kyrgyz: түштөм (tüştöm), обед (obed)

• Ladin: marënda f
• Lao: ອາຫານທ່ຽງ (lo) (’ā hān thīang)
• Latgalian: pušdīnis
• Latin: prandium n
• Latvian: pusdienas m
• Lithuanian: pietūs (lt) m
• Macedonian: ру́чек m (rúček)
• Malay: makan tengahari
• Maltese: ikla f
• Maori: tina
• Mazanderani: چاشت‎‎ (cašt)
• Mirandese: almuorço m
• Mongolian: ленч (lenč), хөнгөн зууш (höngön zuuš)
• Navajo: yistʼéí
• Norman: dénaïr m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lunsj (no) m

  Nynorsk: lunsj (no) m

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: обѣдъ m (obědŭ)

• Pennsylvania German: Essschtick n
• Persian: ناهار‎‎ (fa) (nâhâr)
• Polish: obiad (pl) m
• Portuguese: almoço (pt) m
• Romanian: prânz (ro) n
• Romansch: gentar m
• Russian: обе́д (ru) m (obéd), второ́й за́втрак (ru) m (vtorój závtrak), ланч (ru) m (lanč), ленч (ru) m (lenč)
• Scottish Gaelic: diathad f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ру́чак m, обед m

  Roman: rúčak (sh) m, obed m

• Sindhi: مانجھاندو‎‎ (sd) m (manjhando)
• Slovak: obed (sk) m
• Slovene: kosilo (sl) n, obed m, južina f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wobjed m

• Spanish: almuerzo (es) m (Latin America), comida (es) f (Spain), yanta (es) (archaic)
• Swedish: lunch (sv) c, middag (sv)
• Tagalog: tanghalian (tl)
• Tajik: ноҳор (nohor), хӯроки пешин (xüroki pešin), таоми пешин (taomi pešin)
• Thai: อาหารกลางวัน (aa-hǎan-glaang-wan), อาหารเที่ยง (aahăan tîang), ข้าวเที่ยง (kâao tîang), มื้อเที่ยง (méu tîang), มื้อกลางวัน (méu glaangwan), ข้าวกลางวัน (kâao glaangwan), เพล (peen) (ecclesiastical)
• Turkish: öğle yemeği (tr)
• Turkmen: günortanlyk, günortanlyk nahar
• Ukrainian: обі́д m (obíd), ланч m (lanč)
• Urdu: لنچ‎‎ m (lanc), دوپہر کا کھانا‎‎ m (dophar kā khānā)
• Uzbek: tushlik (uz), lench, ikkinchi nonushta, obed (uz)
• Venetian: disnar (vec)
• Vietnamese: bữa trưa, bữa ăn trưa
• Volapük: koled (vo)
• Walloon: dinner (wa) m, marinde (wa) f
• Welsh: cinio bach m
• Yiddish: װאַרעמעס‎‎ n (váremes)

cricket break

Verb

lunch (third-person singular simple present lunches, present participle lunching, simple past and past participle lunched)

1. (intransitive) To eat lunch.

   I like to lunch in Italian restaurants.

   • Cole Porter

     Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today.

   • 1909, Frank Sidgwick, Love and battles (page 291)

     The gentleman had left for London after lunch. Yes, alone; but he had lunched in the hotel with a lady.

2. (transitive) To treat to lunch.
   • H. G. Wells

     We dined him, we lunched him, we were photographed in his company by flashlight.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• ladies who lunch

• luncher

• lunchroom

Related terms

• luncheonette

Translations

to eat lunch

• Albanian: drekoj (sq), silloj (sq)
• Aromanian: prãndzu
• Basque: bazkaldu (eu)
• Belarusian: абе́даць impf (abjédacʹ), паабе́даць pf (paabjédacʹ)
• Breton: merennañ (br)
• Bulgarian: обя́двам impf (objádvam)
• Catalan: dinar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吃午飯, 吃午饭 (chī wǔfàn)

• Czech: obědvat (cs)
• Dalmatian: disnur
• Danish: spise (da), spise (da) frokost (da)
• Dutch: middageten (nl), dineren (nl), lunchen (nl)
• Estonian: lõunastama
• Finnish: lounastaa (fi)
• French: déjeuner (fr), prendre déjeuner, luncher (fr) (more specific)
• German: zu Mittag essen, lunchen (de), soupieren (de)
• Greek: γευματίζω (el) (gevmatízo)

  Ancient: δεῖπνέω (deîpnéō) (early usage), ἄριστάω (áristáō) (later usage)

• Hungarian: ebédel (hu)
• Ido: dejunar (io)
• Interlingua: prander, lunchar

• Irish: lón a ithe
• Italian: pranzare (it)
• Japanese: 昼食をとる (chūshoku o toru)
• Kabuverdianu: almusa
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: نان خواردنی نیوه‌ڕۆ‎‎ (nan xwardnî nîwerro)

• Macedonian: ру́ча impf (rúča)
• Maori: tina
• Mirandese: almorçar
• Polish: jeść obiad impf
• Portuguese: almoçar (pt)
• Romanian: prânzi (ro)
• Russian: обе́дать (ru) impf (obédatʹ), пообе́дать (ru) pf (poobédatʹ)
• Slovak: obedovať impf
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wobjedowaś impf

• Spanish: almorzar (es)
• Swedish: äta lunch, luncha (sv)
• Tagalog: tanghalian (tl)
• Vietnamese: ăn trưa
• Volapük: koledön (vo)

See also

• breakfast
• dine, dinner
• supper

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Dutch

Etymology

From English lunch.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

lunch m (plural lunchen or lunches, diminutive lunchje n)

1. A lunch, meal around noon

Synonyms

• middageten n

Derived terms

• lunchen (verb)
• lunchtafel m, f
• lunchtijd m
• lunchuur n

Related terms

• brunchen (verb)
• lunchroom

Verb

lunch

1. first-person singular present indicative of lunchen
2. imperative of lunchen

See also

• maaltijd
• ontbijt

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French

Etymology

From English lunch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lœ̃ʃ/

Noun

lunch m (plural lunchs)

1. A lunch, (usually light) meal around noon
2. A light meal with sandwiches, cold cuts, pastry etc. served at a festive reception

Derived terms

• luncher (verb)

Further reading

• “lunch” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Spanish

Noun

lunch m (plural lunches)

1. lunch

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Swedish

Etymology

From English lunch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɵnɧ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

lunch c

1. a lunch, a meal eaten about noon

Declension

Declension of lunch
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	lunch	lunchen	luncher	luncherna
Genitive	lunchs	lunchens	lunchers	lunchernas

Related terms

Terms related to lunch

• dagens lunch
• luncha
• lunchbar
• lunchbord
• lunchbox
• lunchbricka

• lunchdags
• lunchgäst
• lunchkonsert
• lunchkorg
• lunchkupong

• lunchpaus
• lunchrast
• lunchrestaurang
• lunchrum
• lunchrusning

• lunchrätt
• lunchservering
• lunchställe
• lunchstängd
• lunchtid

See also

• middag

References

• lunch in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)