Etymograph

English

meal

Meal comes from Middle English mel ‘a time, occasion or event’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-1‘to measure’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mēlą1‘time’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*māl1‘time’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mǣl1‘measure’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mel1‘a time’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606meal1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English meal
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Macbeth: “Ere we will eate our Meale in feare, and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-Wiktionary, English meal‘to measure’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mēląWiktionary, English meal‘time’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mālWiktionary, English meal‘time’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mǣlWiktionary, English meal‘measure’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500melWiktionary, English meal‘a time’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606mealWiktionary, English meal. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Macbeth: “Ere we will eate our Meale in feare, and…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with meal, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’

  • month ← mon(e)th ← mōnaþ ← *mānōþ ← *mēnōþs
  • moon ← mone ← mōna ← *mānō ← *mēnô
  • moral ← mōrālis ← mōs ← *mōs
  • measure ← mesure ← mesure ← mēnsūra ← mētior
  • sunny ← sunni ← *sunniġ ← *sunnig ← *sunnā
  • dimension ← dīmēnsiō ← dīmētior ← mētior ← *mētis
  • meter ← metere ← metend
  • moody ← mody ← mōdiġ ← *mōdagaz ← *mōdaz
  • immense ← immens ← immensus ← mensus ← mētior
  • metric ← métrique ← metricus ← metrum ← μέτρον
  • metre ← metrum ← μέτρον
  • meta

79 more relatives in the full family tree

No ads, ever.

Become a founding member, $29 onceI have a code

Explore everything descended from *meh₁- →

Another origin of meal

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-‘to grind, mill’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*melwą‘meal, flour’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*melu‘ground corn, meal, flour’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150melu‘meal, flour’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mele‘Flour, especially that of wheat’
  6. Englishtodaymeal

Another origin of meal

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mey-‘to soil’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mailą‘wrinkle, spot’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150māl‘spot, mark, blemish’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mole
  5. Englishtodaymeal

Variation of mole (compare Scots mail), from Middle English mole, mool, from Old English māl, mǣl (‘spot, mark, blemish’), from Proto-Germanic *mailą (‘wrinkle, spot’), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (‘to soil’).

No ads, ever. This is how the app stays alive.

Become a founding member, $29 onceWear this word, $32Support the app

Today it means

noun Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “meal”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- / meal