loaf

English

/ləʊf/, /loʊf/

noun
Definitions
  • (also loaf of bread) A block of bread after baking.
  • Any solid block of food, such as meat or sugar.
  • (Cockney rhyming slang) Shortened from "loaf of bread", the brain or the head (mainly in the phrase use one's loaf).
  • A solid block of soap, from which standard bars are cut.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English lof (oar, a contrivance for altering a ship's course, paddle) inherited from Old English hlāf (bread, loaf, sacramental bread, cake, food, morsel) inherited from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz (loaf, bread).

Origin

Proto-Germanic

*hlaibaz

Gloss

loaf, bread

Concept
Semantic Field

Food and drink

Ontological Category

Person/Thing

Emoji
🥐 🥖 🥪

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms