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dinner. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
dinner, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
From Middle English dyner, from Old French disner (“lunch”, but originally “breakfast”), (modern French dîner), from Vulgar Latin *disiūnō, *disiūnāre from Latin dis- + iēiūnō (“to break the fast”). Doublet of diner.
Pronunciation
Noun
dinner (countable and uncountable, plural dinners)
- A midday meal (in a context in which the evening meal is called supper or tea).
1892, Walter Besant, “In the Office”, in The Ivory Gate , New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , →OCLC, page 45:At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkley, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.
- 1919, Elisabeth P. Stork (translator), Heidi, Johanna Spyri:
- It was already late for school, so the boy took his time and only arrived in the village when Heidi came home for dinner. "Come to the table now and eat with us. Then you can go up with Heidi, and when you bring her back at night, you can get your supper here."
- The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.
- An evening meal.
- I had some friends to dinner two nights ago.
- A meal given to an animal.
Give the dog its dinner.
- A formal meal for many people eaten for a special occasion.
1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:Soon after the arrival of Mrs. Campbell, dinner was announced by Abboye. He came into the drawing room resplendent in his gold-and-white turban. […] His cummerbund matched the turban in gold lines.
- (uncountable) The food provided or consumed at any such meal.
Usage notes
- There are differences in usage according to the social class of the speaker. Working-class and lower-middle-class speakers in Britain, for example, are more likely to refer to the midday meal as "dinner" and the evening meal as "tea" rather than "supper". Some speakers use common collocations of dinner such as school dinner, Sunday dinner and Christmas dinner to describe meals that they wouldn't otherwise call a dinner.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
Translations
main meal of the day
- Afrikaans: aandete (af), middagmaal, dinee
- Albanian: darkë (sq) f
- Arabic: عَشَاء m (ʕašāʔ)
- Egyptian Arabic: عشا (ʕáša)
- Hijazi Arabic: عشا m (ʕaša)
- South Levantine Arabic: عشا (ʕáša)
- Armenian: ճաշ (hy) (čaš)
- Aromanian: tsinã f
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐ݇ܟ݂ܵܠ݇ܪܲܡܫܵܐ (ḳarāmša)
- Azerbaijani: axşam yeməyi, şam (az)
- Basque: afari (eu)
- Belarusian: вячэ́ра f (vjačéra) (eaten in the evening, but the midday meal is the main meal)
- Bengali: হাজরি (bn) (hazri), বড় হাজরি (bn) (bôṛô hazri)
- Bulgarian: вече́ря (bg) f (večérja) (eaten in the evening, but the midday meal is the main meal)
- Catalan: sopar (ca) m, cena (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 晚飯/晚饭 (maan5 faan6)
- Gan: 夜飯/夜饭 ('ia5 fan5) (eaten in the evening)
- Mandarin: 晚飯/晚饭 (zh) (wǎnfàn), 晚餐 (zh) (wǎncān) (eaten in the evening)
- Czech: oběd (cs) m (in Czech the midday meal is the main meal), večeře (cs) f (eaten in the evening)
- Danish: middag (da), aftensmad (da) c
- Dutch: avondeten (nl) n, avondmaaltijd (nl) m, avondmaal (nl) n, eten (nl) n
- Esperanto: vespermanĝo
- Finnish: päivällinen (fi), illallinen (fi)
- French: dîner (fr) m (Central France), souper (fr) m (Belgium, Cajun, Swiss and Canadian French; eaten in the evening, but the midday meal is the main meal)
- Friulian: cene f
- Galician: cea (gl) f, xantar (gl) m
- Georgian: სადილი (sadili)
- German: Hauptmahlzeit (de) f, Abendessen (de) n
- Greek: δείπνο (el) n (deípno), βραδινό (el) n (vradinó), κύριο γεύμα n (kýrio gévma)
- Ancient: δόρπον n (dórpon) (early usage), δεῖπνον n (deîpnon) (later usage)
- Hawaiian: ʻaina ahiahi
- Hebrew: ארוחת ערב (he) (arukhat erev) (evening meal; but, in Israel, for many, the main meal is the midday meal)
- Hindi: दावत (hi) f (dāvat), रात का भोजन m (rāt kā bhojan), भोजन (hi) m (bhojan), भोज (hi) m (bhoj), खाना (hi) m (khānā)
- Hungarian: vacsora (hu) (eaten in the evening), ebéd (hu) (in Hungary the midday meal is the main meal), estebéd (hu) (a rare term referring to a hot meal in the evening, literally "evening-lunch")
- Icelandic: kvöldmatur (is) m
- Ido: dineo (io)
- Ingrian: iltain
- Irish: dinnéar m
- Italian: cena (it) f
- Japanese: 夕食 (ja) (ゆうしょく, yūshoku) (eaten in the evening)
- Javanese: mangan (jv) bengi (jv), jinnair
- Korean: 저녁 (ko) (jeonyeok)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: şîv (ku) f
- Ladin: cëina f
- Latgalian: vakareņis
- Latin: cēna (la) f
- Latvian: vakariņas f pl (evening meal; but, in Latvia, the main meal is the midday meal)
- Ligurian: çenn-a f
- Lithuanian: vakarienė f (evening meal; but, in Lithuania, the main meal is the midday meal)
- Lombard: zèna (lmo) f
- Macedonian: вечера f (večera) (eaten in the evening)
- Malay: makan malam (ms)
- Maltese: ċena f
- Manx: jinnair m
- Maori: hapa
- Middle English: dyner
- Mòcheno: tschai'
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: оройн хоол (orojn xool), оройн зоог (orojn zoog)
- Nahuatl: cochcayotl
- Navajo: eʼeʼáahgo daʼadánígíí
- Northern Sami: mállásat
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: middag (no) m
- Nynorsk: middag m
- Occitan: sopar (oc) m
- Old English: middægþenung f
- Oromo: irbaata
- Pashto: ماښامنۍ f (mâẍâmanə́y)
- Persian: شام (fa) (šâm)
- Piedmontese: sin-a f
- Plautdietsch: Owentkost n
- Polish: obiad (pl) m
- Portuguese: jantar (pt) (eaten in the evening, but the midday meal is the main meal), ceia (pt) f
- Romagnol: zéna f
- Romanian: cină (ro) f, masă de seară f
- Romansch: tschaina f
- Russian: у́жин (ru) m (úžin) (eaten in the evening, but the midday meal is the main meal)
- Sardinian: chena f, cena f
- Scottish Gaelic: dìnnear f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: вѐчера f (eaten in the evening)
- Roman: vèčera (sh) f (eaten in the evening)
- Sicilian: cena (scn) f
- Sidamo: hurbaate
- Slovak: večera f (eaten in the evening, but the midday meal is the main meal)
- Slovene: večerja (sl) f, južina f (eaten in the evening)
- Spanish: cena (es) f
- Swedish: middag (sv) c
- Tagalog: hapunan
- Tarifit: amensi m
- Tocharian B: yesti
- Turkish: akşam yemeği (tr)
- Ukrainian: вече́ря f (večérja) (eaten in the evening, but the midday meal is the main meal)
- Vietnamese: bữa trưa (eaten at midday), bữa chiều (eaten in the evening), bữa tối (eaten in the evening)
- Walloon: soper (wa) m (eaten in the evening, but the midday meal is the main meal)
- Yiddish: וועטשערע f (vetshere)
- Yola: dineare
- Zazaki: şami (diq) f, sani f
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a meal given to an animal
midday meal
- Arabic: غَدَاء m (ḡadāʔ)
- Egyptian Arabic: غدا (ġáda)
- Hijazi Arabic: غدا m (ġada)
- Armenian: ճաշ (hy) (čaš)
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܟܵܘܸܬܪܵܐ (kawitra)
- Azerbaijani: nahar (az), abed (Russianism), günorta yeməyi
- Bashkir: төшкө аш (töşkö aş)
- Belarusian: абе́д m (abjéd)
- Bengali: হাজরি (bn) (hazri), বড় হাজরি (bn) (bôṛô hazri)
- Bulgarian: о́бед (bg) m (óbed)
- Catalan: dinar (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Gan: 昼飯 (jiu4 fan5)
- Mandarin: 午飯/午饭 (zh) (wǔfàn), 午餐 (zh) (wǔcān)
- Czech: oběd (cs) m
- Danish: middag (da)
- Dutch: middageten (nl) n, middagmaaltijd (nl) m, middagmaal (nl) n, lunch (nl) m
- Finnish: lounas (fi), päivällinen (fi)
- French: déjeuner (fr) m, dîner (fr) (Belgium, Cajun, Swiss, Canadian, Louisiana and Romandy French)
- Galician: xantar (gl) m
- Georgian: სადილი (sadili)
- German: Mittagessen (de) n
- Greek: γεύμα (el) n (gévma), μεσημεριανό (el) n (mesimerianó)
- Hebrew: ארוחת צהריים \ אֲרוּחַת צָהֳרַיִם (he) f (arukhát tsohoráyim)
- Hindi: दावत (hi) f (dāvat), भोजन (hi) m (bhojan), भोज (hi) m (bhoj), खाना (hi) m (khānā)
- Hungarian: ebéd (hu)
- Irish: dinnéar m
- Italian: pranzo (it) m
- Japanese: 昼食 (ja) (ちゅうしょく, chūshoku), 昼飯 (ja) (ひるめし, hirumeshi)
- Khmer: អាហារថ្ងៃត្រង់ (ʼaahaa thngay trɑng), បាយថ្ងៃត្រង់ (baay thngay trɑng)
- Korean: 점심(點心) (ko) (jeomsim)
- Latvian: pusdienas f pl
- Lithuanian: pietūs (lt) m pl
- Macedonian: ручек m (ruček)
- Maltese: pranzu (mt) m
- Maori: tina
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: өдрийн хоол (ödriin xool), үдийн хоол (üdiin xool)
- Occitan: dinnar (oc) m
- Polish: obiad (pl) m
- Portuguese: almoço (pt) m
- Romanian: prânz (ro) n
- Russian: обе́д (ru) m (obéd)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ручак m, обед m
- Roman: ručak (sh) m, obed m
- Slovak: obed (sk) m
- Slovene: kosilo (sl) n, obed m
- Spanish: almuerzo (es) m
- Ukrainian: обі́д m (obíd)
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Translations to be checked
Verb
dinner (third-person singular simple present dinners, present participle dinnering, simple past and past participle dinnered)
- (intransitive) To eat a dinner; to dine.
2014, Caroline Akervik, chapter 6, in White Pine, White Bear Lake, MN: Melange Books, page 57:Once I was geared up, I joined him on the wide, flat seat of the sled which was loaded up with hot food for the jacks who were dinnering out since they worked a forty far from the camp.
- (transitive) To provide (someone) with a dinner; to dine.
- 1887, Caroline Emily Cameron, A Devout Lover, London: F.V. White & Co., Volume 1, Chapter 11, p. 181,
- She had taken her about to concerts and exhibitions—she had dinnered her at the Colonies, and suppered her at the New Club.
2004, Colm Tóibín, chapter 2, in The Master, New York: Scribner, page 26:‘The Irish were awful anyway,’ Lady Wolseley said, ‘and their not attending the season should be greeted with relief. The dreary matrons dragging their dreary daughters about the place and dinnering up every possible partner for them. The truth is that no one wants to marry their daughters, no one at all.’
Synonyms
- (eat a dinner): dine (formal)
Translations
provide someone with a dinner
Translations to be checked
Anagrams
Chinese
Alternative forms
- 癲拿/癫拿 (din1 naa4, “dinner”)
Etymology
From English dinner.
Pronunciation
Noun
dinner
- (Hong Kong Cantonese) dinner (evening meal; formal meal at special occasion) (Classifier: 個/个 c; 餐 c)
Related terms