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 midday 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/,

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (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.
   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     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

Descendants

Translations

Verb

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

2. (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.

3. (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

Related terms

• luncheonette

Translations

See also

• breakfast
• dine, dinner
• supper

Chinese

Alternative forms

• lung廚／lung厨 (lan1 cyu4, “lunch”)

Etymology

From English lunch.

Pronunciation

Noun

lunch

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) lunch (Classifier: 個／个 c; 餐 c)

Verb

lunch

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to eat lunch; to have lunch

Related terms

• dinner

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

See also

• maaltijd
• ontbijt

French

Etymology

From English lunch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lœ̃ʃ/

• Audio

  (file)

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 , 2012.

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

lunch

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English lunch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lant͡ʂ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ant͡ʂ
• Syllabification: lunch

Noun

lunch m inan

1. lunch (meal around midday)

Declension

Further reading

• lunch in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• lunch in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish

Alternative forms

• lonche

Etymology

Borrowed from English lunch.

Noun

lunch m (plural lunches)

1. lunch

Further reading

• “lunch”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Etymology

From English lunch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɵnɧ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɵnɧ

Noun

lunch c

1. a lunch, a meal eaten about noon

Declension

Related terms

See also

• middag

References

• lunch in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)