lunch

Recorded since 1580 in the sense “piece, hunk”. The word luncheon with the same meaning is presumably an extension on the pattern of puncheon (“cask”) and truncheon (“cudgel”). But earliest found forms of luncheon include lunshin and lunching, which are equivalent to lunch +‎ -ing, with the suffix -ing possibly later modified to imitate a French origin.

In contrast, the more common sense “light meal” is first attested for luncheon in 1652 and for lunch in 1829, so in this sense the latter is probably a shortening of the former.

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”).^[1]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /lʌnt͡ʃ/, /lʌnʃ/, [lʌ̃nt͡ʃ]

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• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ʌntʃ

lunch (countable and uncountable, plural lunches)

2. A light meal usually eaten around midday, notably when not as main meal of the day. quotations ▼
   • 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.

3. (cricket) A break in play between the first and second sessions.
4. (Minnesota, US) Any small meal, especially one eaten at a social gathering. quotations ▼

   After the funeral there was a lunch for those who didn't go to the cemetery.

   • 1908, L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables:

     “Oh, you mustn’t dream of going home without your tea,” cried Anne in distress. “I’ll get it right off—I’ll go and put the tea down this very minute.” “I must go home,” repeated Diana, stupidly but determinedly. “Let me get you a lunch anyhow,” implored Anne. “Let me give you a bit of fruit-cake and some of the cherry preserves. […]”

5. (obsolete) A thin piece or hunk (of bread, meat, etc.)

• (midday meal): luncheon (formal); nones (obsolete)

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

2. (intransitive) To eat lunch. quotations ▼

   I like to lunch in Italian restaurants.

   • 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.

   • 1934, Cole Porter, Miss Otis Regrets:

     Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today.

3. (transitive) To treat to lunch. quotations ▼
   • 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.

• luncheonette

• breakfast
• dine, dinner
• supper

• lung廚 / lung厨 (lan1 cyu4, “lunch”)

From English lunch.

lunch

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

lunch

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

• dinner

Borrowed from English lunch.

• IPA^(key): /lʏnʃ/

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• Hyphenation: lunch

lunch m (plural lunchen or lunches, diminutive lunchje n)

1. a lunch, a meal eaten around noon

• middageten n

• lunchen (verb)
• lunchtafel m or f
• lunchtijd m
• lunchuur n

• brunchen (verb)
• lunchroom

lunch

1. inflection of lunchen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• maaltijd
• ontbijt

From English lunch.

• IPA^(key): /lœ̃ʃ/

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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

• luncher (verb)

• “lunch”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Unadapted borrowing from English lunch.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlant͡ʂ/

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -ant͡ʂ
• Syllabification: lunch

lunch m inan

1. lunch (meal around midday)

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

• lonche

Borrowed from English lunch.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlont͡ʃ/ [ˈlõnʲt͡ʃ]
  • Rhymes: -ontʃ
• IPA^(key): /ˈlant͡ʃ/ [ˈlãnʲt͡ʃ]
  • Rhymes: -antʃ
• IPA^(key): /ˈlunt͡ʃ/ [ˈlũnʲt͡ʃ]
  • Rhymes: -untʃ
• Syllabification: lunch

lunch m (plural lunches)

1. lunch

• “lunch”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

From English lunch.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɵnɧ/

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• Rhymes: -ɵnɧ

lunch c

1. lunch, a meal eaten around noon

   Vad åt du till lunch?

   What did you have [eat] for lunch?

• frukost (“breakfast”)
• kvällsmat (“supper, evening meal”)
• mat (“food”)
• mellanmål (“snack (between meals)”)
• middag (“dinner”)
• måltid (“meal”)

• lunch in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• lunch in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• lunch in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)