"breakfast" in seven languages
Meaningbreakfast
Spanish
/desaˈʝuno/
masc.inherited
Built in Spanish from des- + ayuno 'fast' (IĒIŪNIUM).
French
/pəti deʒœne/
masc.inherited
Déjeuner alone is lunch in France — but breakfast in Belgium, Switzerland and Québec.
Italian
/kolatˈtsjone/
fem.other source · Latin COLLĀTIŌNEM 'a bringing together', a light monastic meal
Portuguese
/kaˈfɛ da maˈɲɐ̃/
masc.other source · Portuguese café 'coffee' + da manhã 'of the morning'
European Portuguese says pequeno-almoço.
Romanian
/mik deˈʒun/
neut.borrowed · French déjeuner, with mic 'small' (after petit-déjeuner)
Catalan
/əzmurˈza/
masc.other source · a Vulgar Latin derivative of MORDĒRE 'to bite'
English
/ˈbɹɛkfəst/
native English · English break + fast
English dinner comes from Old French disner, from this same *DISIĒIŪNĀRE.
The Latin ancestor
*DISIĒIŪNĀRE‘to break one's fast (from IĒIŪNIUM 'fast')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and French both say 'un-fast', like English breakfast. English dinner is that very French verb (disner), so dinner and déjeuner are cognates.
English relatives: breakfast (the same idea in English); dinner (Old French disner, the same verb); jejunum
Learn it
In a sentence
- esEl desayuno es a las ocho.
- frLe petit-déjeuner est à huit heures.
- itLa colazione è alle otto.
- ptO café da manhã é às oito.
- roMicul dejun e la opt.
- caL'esmorzar és a les vuit.
- enBreakfast is at eight.