dinner (English)
Where does "dinner" come from?
The word 'dinner' descends from the Latin 'ieiūnō,' meaning to fast, combined with the prefix 'dis-' to signify breaking that fast. It traveled through Vulgar Latin into Old French as 'disner,' which originally referred to a morning meal or breakfast before evolving into the Middle English 'dyner.' Over time, the term shifted its focus from the initial breaking of a fast to our modern usage describing the primary meal of the day.
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)'
- learned borrowing disner (Old French), 'to dine; to eat the main meal of the day'
- inherited *disiūnāre (Vulgar Latin)
- prefix dis- (Latin), 'asunder, apart, in two'
- compound iēiūnāre (Latin), 'inflection of ieiūnō:'
- derived iēiūnus (Latin), 'fasting, abstinent, hungry'
- inherited iaiūnus (Latin)
- inherited *jagjūnos (Proto-Italic)
- inherited *h₁yaǵ-yu-s (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *h₁yaǵ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to sacrifice'
- inherited *h₁yaǵ-yu-s (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *jagjūnos (Proto-Italic)
- inherited iaiūnus (Latin)
- derived iēiūnus (Latin), 'fasting, abstinent, hungry'
- inherited *disiūnāre (Vulgar Latin)
- learned borrowing disner (Old French), 'to dine; to eat the main meal of the day'
- inherited dyner (Middle English), 'lunch (second meal of the day, eaten in the late morning)'
Direct ancestors
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris