dinner (English)

Where does "dinner" come from?

The English word dinner comes from Middle English 'dyner'[1], which was borrowed from Old French 'disner'[2]. The Old French term originally meant 'breakfast' before shifting to mean 'lunch'[1]. This descended from Vulgar Latin '*disiūnō, *disiūnāre'[1], formed from the Latin prefix 'dis-' combined with 'iēiūnō' meaning 'to fast'[1], ultimately tracing back through Latin 'ieiūnus'[3] to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to sacrifice'[4].

Open questions

The Vulgar Latin forms like *disiūnāre are reconstructed rather than directly attested in classical texts. [1] [2] [3]

Full etymology tree

dinner (English), 'The main meal of the day, often eaten in the evening.'
- inherited dyner (Middle English), 'lunch (second meal of the day, eaten in the late morning)'
  - borrowed disner (Old French), 'to dine; to eat the main meal of the day'
    - inherited *disiuno (Latin), 'lunch'
      - derived *disieiūnāre (Vulgar Latin)
        prefix dis- (Latin), 'asunder, apart, in two'
        derived ieiuno (Latin), 'to fast'
        derived ieiunus (Latin), 'fasting, abstinent, hungry'
        derived iaiūnus (Latin)
        inherited *jagjūnos (Proto-Italic)
        inherited *h₁yaǵ-yu-s (Proto-Indo-European)
        inherited *h₁yaǵ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to sacrifice'

Ancestors

*h₁yaǵ- (Proto-Indo-European)
dyner (Middle English)
disner (Old French)
dis- (Latin)

Cognates and doublets

dîner (French)

Descendants and derived words

after-dinner speech (English)
all duck or no dinner (English)
a revolution is not a dinner party (English)
bachelor dinner (English)
bachelor's dinner (English)
basket dinner (English)
bedinner (English)
boiled dinner (English)
brinner (English)
Burns dinner (English)
candlelight dinner (English)
candlelit dinner (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris