Lunch-time or lunchtime?
lunch-time is a noun meaning “Alternative form of lunchtime”; lunchtime is a noun meaning “The time or hour at or around which lunch is normally eaten”. lunch-time is written with a hyphen and lunchtime as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between lunch-time and lunchtime?
| lunch-time | lunchtime | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun |
| Meaning | Alternative form of lunchtime | The time or hour at or around which lunch is normally eaten A break in work or school to eat lunch |
| Example | none recorded | It's almost lunchtime, so I think I'll finish up later this afternoon |
| Forms | lunch-times | lunchtimes |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈlʌnt͡ʃtaɪm/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 2.1 times per million words |
Sources: lunch-time and lunchtime in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of lunch-time and lunchtime
lunch-time
- 1
Alternative form of lunchtime
lunchtime
- 1
The time or hour at or around which lunch is normally eaten
- 2
A break in work or school to eat lunch
It's almost lunchtime, so I think I'll finish up later this afternoon
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, lunch-time or lunchtime?
lunch-time is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; lunchtime 2.1 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search lunch-time vs lunchtime?
“lunch-time vs lunchtime” is searched about 20 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“lunchtime vs lunch-time”, “lunch-time or lunchtime”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.