# lunch
## English
### Etymology

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 include lunshin and lunching, which are equivalent to lunch +‎ -ing, with the suffix -ing possibly later modified to imitate a French origin.
The 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”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /lʌnt͡ʃ/, /lʌnʃ/, [lʌ̃nt͡ʃ]
* Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ʌntʃ

### Noun

lunch (countable and uncountable, plural lunches)
* A light meal usually eaten around midday, notably when not as main meal of the day.
** 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.
* (cricket) A break in play between the first and second sessions.
* (Minnesota, US) Any small meal, especially one eaten at a social gathering.
    After the funeral there was a lunch for those who didn't go to the cemetery.
* (obsolete) A think piece or hunk (of bread, meat, etc.)

#### Synonyms

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

#### Derived terms

* bag lunch
* blunch
* box lunch
* brunch
* business lunch
* businessman's lunch
* cut lunch
* dairy lunch
* do lunch
* dry lunch
* dunch
* Dutch lunch
* eat someone's lunch
* free lunch
* funch
* launch lunch
* launch one's lunch
* linner
* liquid lunch
* little lunch
* lose one's lunch
* lunchable
* Lunchable
* lunch-and-learn
* lunch box
* lunchbreak
* lunch break
* lunch bucket
* lunch counter
* lunchee
* luncheteria
* lunchette
* lunch hour
* lunch kettle
* lunch lady
* lunchless
* lunchline
* lunchmaking
* lunchmate
* lunch meat
* lunch money
* lunch pail
* lunch pail Democrat
* lunchtime
* lunch-time
* lunchwards
* lunchware
* lunner
* lupper
* no free lunch theorem
* out to lunch
* pack a lunch
* packed lunch
* pack lunch
* plate lunch
* playlunch
* ploughman's lunch
* plowman's lunch
* postlunch
* power lunch
* prelunch
* sack lunch
* split lunch
* there ain't no such thing as a free lunch
* there is no free lunch
* there is no such thing as a free lunch
* there's no such thing as a free lunch
* three-martini lunch
* walk after lunch

#### Descendants

* → Bengali: লাঞ্চ (lanco)
* → Cantonese: lunch
* → Dutch: lunch
* → French: lunch
* → German: Lunch
* → Japanese: ランチ (ranchi)
* → Korean: 런치 (reonchi)
* → Norwegian Bokmål: lunsj
* → Norwegian Nynorsk: lunsj
* → Polish: lunch
* → Portuguese: lanche
* → Russian: ланч (lanč), ленч (lenč)
* → Spanish: lonche
* → Swedish: lunch
* → Ukrainian: ланч (lanč)
* → Yiddish: לאָנטש (lontsh)

#### Translations
### Verb

lunch (third-person singular simple present lunches, present participle lunching, simple past and past participle lunched)
* (intransitive) To eat lunch.
    I like to lunch in Italian restaurants.
** 1934, Cole Porter, Miss Otis Regrets:Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today.
** 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.
* (transitive) To treat to lunch.
** 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.

#### Derived terms

* lady who lunches
* luncher
* lunch in
* lunch out
* lunchroom

#### Related terms

* luncheonette

#### Translations
### See also

* breakfast
* dine, dinner
* supper

### References

* ↑ “lunch, n.2.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2023.

## Chinese
### Alternative forms

* lung廚 / lung厨 (lan1 cyu4, “lunch”)

### Etymology

From English lunch.

### Pronunciation

* Cantonese (Jyutping): lan$^1$ cyu$^4$ / lan$^1$ cyu$^2$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: lan$^1$ cyu$^4$ / lan$^1$ cyu$^2$
*** Yale: lān chyùh / lān chyú
*** Cantonese Pinyin: lan$^1$ tsy$^4$ / lan$^1$ tsy$^2$
*** Guangdong Romanization: len$^1$ qu$^4$ / len$^1$ qu$^2$
*** Sinological IPA : /lɐn⁵⁵ t͡sʰyː²¹/, /lɐn⁵⁵ t͡sʰyː³⁵/

### Noun

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

### Verb

lunch
* (Hong Kong Cantonese) to eat lunch; to have lunch

#### Related terms

* dinner

## Dutch
### Etymology

Borrowed from English lunch.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /lʏnʃ/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: lunch

### Noun

lunch m (plural lunchen or lunches, diminutive lunchje n)
* a lunch, a meal eaten around noon

#### Synonyms

* middageten n

#### Derived terms

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

#### Related terms

* brunchen (verb)
* lunchroom

### Verb

lunch
* inflection of lunchen:
** first-person singular present indicative
** (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
** imperative

### See also

* maaltijd
* ontbijt

## French
### Etymology

From English lunch.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /lœ̃ʃ/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

lunch m (plural lunchs)
* a lunch, (usually light) meal around noon
* a light meal with sandwiches, cold cuts, pastry etc. served at a festive reception

#### Derived terms

* luncher (verb)

### Further reading

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

## Polish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English lunch.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈlant͡ʂ/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ant͡ʂ
* Syllabification: lunch

### Noun

lunch m inan
* lunch (meal around midday)

#### Declension
### Further reading

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

## Spanish
### Alternative forms

* lonche

### Etymology

Borrowed from English lunch.

### Noun

lunch m (plural lunches)
* lunch

### Further reading

* “lunch”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Swedish
### Etymology

From English lunch.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈlɵnɧ/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɵnɧ

### Noun

lunch c
* a lunch, a meal eaten about noon

#### Related terms

* dagens lunch
* luncha
* lunchbar
* lunchbord
* lunchbox
* lunchbricka
* lunchdags
* lunchgäst
* lunchkonsert
* lunchkorg
* lunchkupong
* lunchpaus
* lunchrast
* lunchrestaurang
* lunchrum
* lunchrusning
* lunchrätt
* lunchservering
* lunchställe
* lunchstängd
* lunchtid

#### See also

* middag

### References

* lunch in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)