Food

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: foÍžod, IPA: /fuːd/
• US enPR: foÍžod, IPA: /fud/
• Rhymes: -uːd

Origin

From Middle English fode, fude, 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"), 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.

Full definition of food

Noun

1. (uncountable) Any substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life.
   The innkeeper brought them food and drink.
• 1922, Ben Travers, A Cuckoo in the Nest Chapter 1, “… 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. …”
• 2013-06-29, A punch in the gut, 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.
   This shop stocks many hundreds of different foods.
3. (uncountable, figuratively) Anything intended to supply energy or nourishment of an entity or idea.
   The man's inspiring speech gave us food for thought.
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)This may prove food to my displeasure.
• William Wordsworth (1770-1850)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) bellytimber, chow slang, comestible formal, eats slang, feed for domesticated animals, fodder for domesticated animals, foodstuffs, nosh slang, nourishment, sustenance, victuals
• (anything intended to supply energy or nourishment of an entity or idea) brainfood
• (foodstuff) bellytimber, foodstuff

Derived terms

Related terms

• feed
• fodder

Anagrams

• doof