food
English
Etymology
From Middle English fode, foode, from Old English fōda (“food”), from Proto-West Germanic *fōdō, from Proto-Germanic *fōdô (“food”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to guard, graze, feed”).
Cognate with Scots fuid (“food”), Low German föde, vöde (“food”), West Frisian fiedsel (“food”), Dutch voedsel (“food”) Danish føde (“food”), Swedish föda (“food”), Icelandic fæða, fæði (“food”), Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (fōdeins, “food”), Latin pānis (“bread, food”), Latin pāscō (“feed, nourish”, verb). Related to fodder, foster.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fo͞od, IPA(key): /fuːd/
- (General American) enPR: fo͞od, IPA(key): /fud/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -uːd
Noun
Various foods
food (usually uncountable, plural foods)
- (uncountable) Any solid substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:food
- The innkeeper brought them food and drink.
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
- “[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”
- 2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 72-3:
- Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.
- (countable) A foodstuff.
- Synonyms: (archaic, now only humorous or regional) belly-timber, foodstuff, provender; see also Thesaurus:food
- 2006, C Williams; J Buttriss, Improving the Fat Content of Foods, →ISBN, page 492:
- Variation and changes in the trans fatty acid content of different foods, especially in processed foods, further complicate such estimates.
- (uncountable, figuratively) Anything that nourishes or sustains.
- Hyponym: brainfood
- The man's inspiring speech gave us food for thought.
- Mozart and Bach are food for my soul.
- 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii]:
- This may prove food to my displeasure.
- 1798, William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey
- In this moment there is life and food / For future years.
Usage notes
- Adjectives often applied to "food": raw, cooked, baked, fried, grilled, processed, healthy, unhealthy, wholesome, nutritious, safe, toxic, tainted, adulterated, tasty, delicious, fresh, stale, sweet, sour, spicy, exotic, marine.
Synonyms
- (substance consumed by living organisms): belly-timber (archaic, now only humorous or regional), chow (slang), comestible (formal), eats (slang), feed (for domesticated animals), fodder (for domesticated animals), foodstuffs, nosh (slang), nourishment, provender, sustenance, victuals
Derived terms
- agri-food
- ambient food
- angel food
- angel food cake
- avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder
- baby food
- cat food
- cheese food
- Chinese food syndrome
- comfort food
- convenience food
- cottage food operation
- devil's food cake
- dog food
- dude food
- eat one's own dog food
- famine food
- fast-food
- fast food
- fast food music
- finger food
- fish food
- food additive
- food allergy
- food art
- food artist
- food baby
- food bank
- food-borne
- food-borne disease
- food bowl
- food canal
- food cart
- food chain
- food closet
- food coloring
- food colouring
- food coma
- food court
- food crop
- food desert
- food drive
- food-fall
- food fall
- food fight
- food fish
- food for powder
- food for the worms
- food for thought
- food for worms
- food garden
- food-grade
- food hall
- food literacy
- food-literate
- food miles
- food mill
- food pantry
- food pipe
- food plant
- food poisoning
- food porn
- food preservative
- food processor
- food pyramid
- food science
- food security
- food service
- food stamp
- food street
- foodstuff
- food stylist
- food supplement
- food-to-go
- food tree
- food truck
- food vacuole
- food waste disposer
- food web
- food wrap
- foody
- frozen food
- functional food
- ground food
- hard food
- health food
- junk food
- junk food news
- lawn food
- natural food
- non-food
- put food on the table
- rabbit food
- retort food
- seafood
- skin food
- slow food
- snack food
- sometimes food
- soul food
- street food
- whole food
- worm-food
- worm food
- worm's food
- yuppie food stamp
Related terms
- feed
- fodder
Translations
any substance consumed by living organisms to sustain life
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anything intended to supply energy or nourishment of other forms
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foodstuff
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See also
- breakfast
- brunch
- dinner
- dunch
- lunch, luncheon
- meal
- supper
- Category:Foods
Further reading
food on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 
food on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
Anagrams
- do of, doof