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/, /lʌnʃ/, [lʌ̃nt͡ʃ]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌntʃ

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

• liquid lunch
• little lunch
• lunch break
• playlunch

 

Descendants

• Dutch: lunch
• German: Lunch
• Norwegian Bokmål: lunsj
• Norwegian Nynorsk: lunsj
• 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)
• Bikol Central: pangudto
• Breton: merenn (br) f
• Bulgarian: о́бед (bg) m (óbed), обя́д (bg) m (objád)
• Burmese: နေ့လယ်စာ (my) (ne.laica)
• Catalan: dinar (ca) m
• Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵎⵎⵏⵙⵓ (mmnsu), ⵉⵎⴽⵍⵉ (imkli)
• Chickasaw: tabookoli
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 晏晝 (yue), 晏昼 (aan³ zau³)

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

• Czech: oběd (cs) m
• Danish: middagsmad, 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 (gl) 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), नहार (hi) (nahār)
• Hungarian: ebéd (hu)
• Icelandic: hádegismatur (is) m, hádegisverður (is) m
• Ido: dejuno (io), dejuneto (io)
• Indonesian: makan siang (id)
• Interlingua: prandio (ia)
• Inupiaq: 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), 昼飯 (ja) (ひるめし, hirumeshi), 昼餉 (ひるげ, hiruge)
• Kazakh: қонақасы (qonaqası), түскі ас (kk) (tüski as), түскі тамақ (tüski tamaq), түстік (tüstik), түскілік (tüskilik)
• Khmer: អាហារថ្ងៃត្រង់ (aahaa tŋay trɑŋ)
• Korean: 점심 (ko) (jeomsim) (點心), 중식 (ko) (jungsik) (中食 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نانی نیوەڕۆ‎ (ku) (nanî nîwerro)

  Northern Kurdish: firavîn (ku) f

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

• Ladin: marënda f
• Lao: ອາຫານທ່ຽງ (lo) (ʼā hān thīang)
• Latgalian: dīniškys f pl
• 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), ᠬᠥᠩᠭᠡᠨ
  ᠵᠠᠭᠤᠰᠢ (könggen ǰaɣusi)
• Mòcheno: vormes n
• Navajo: yistʼéí
• Norman: dénaïr m
• Northern Sami: lunša, gaskabiebmu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: lunsj (no) m

  Nynorsk: lunsj (no) m

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: обѣдъ m (obědŭ)

• Pennsylvania German: Essschtick n
• Persian: ناهار‎ (fa) (nâhâr)
• Plautdietsch: Meddach n
• 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

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

  Lower Sorbian: wobjed m

  Upper 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.

   • 1934, Cole Porter, Miss Otis Regrets

     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.
   • 1906, H. G. Wells, The Future in America: A Search After Realities

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

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)
• Chickasaw: tabookoli impa
• 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)
• Galician: xantar (gl) m
• 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, almusá
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نان خواردنی نیوەڕۆ‎ (ku) (nan xwardnî nîwerro)

• Latgalian: dīniškuot
• Latin: prandeō
• Latvian: pusdienot
• Lithuanian: pietauti
• Macedonian: ру́ча impf (rúča)
• Maori: tina
• Mirandese: almorçar
• Mongolian: өдрийн хоол идэх (ödrijn hool ideh), ᠡᠳᠦᠷ ᠦᠨ
  ᠬᠣᠭᠤᠯᠠ
  ᠢᠳᠡᠬᠦ (edür-ün qoɣula idekü)
• 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

---

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English lunch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lʏnʃ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lunch

Noun

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

1. A lunch, a meal eaten around noon

Synonyms

• middageten n

Derived terms

• lunchen (verb)
• lunchtafel m or 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

---

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 Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

---

Spanish

Noun

lunch m (plural lunches)

1. lunch

---

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

• 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 (SAOL)