food

From Middle English fode, foode, from Old English fōda (“food”), 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.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fo͞od, IPA^(key): /fuːd/
• (General American) enPR: fo͞od, IPA^(key): /fud/

• Audio (UK)

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• Audio

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• Rhymes: -uːd

Various foods

food (usually uncountable, plural foods)

1. (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.

2. (countable) A foodstuff.

   Synonyms: belly-timber (archaic, now only humorous or regional), 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.

3. (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.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     This may prove food to my displeasure.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Wordsworth

     In this moment there is life and food / For future years.

• 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.

• (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

• feed
• fodder

• breakfast
• brunch
• dinner
• dunch
• lunch, luncheon
• meal
• supper
• Category:Foods

• food on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• food on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

• do of, doof