# meal

> English word · Noun · IPA /miːl/ · frequency rank #3,113

## Definitions
1. Food that is prepared and eaten, usually at a specific time, and usually in a comparatively large quantity.
2. Food served or eaten as a repast.
3. A break taken by a police officer in order to eat.
4. A time or an occasion.

## Etymology
From Middle English mel, from Old English mǣl (“measure, time, occasion, set time, time for eating, meal”), from Proto-West Germanic *māl, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”).
Cognate with West Frisian miel, Dutch maal (“meal, time, occurrence”), German Mal (“time”), Mahl (“meal”), Norwegian Bokmål mål (“meal”), Swedish mål (“meal”); and (from Proto-Indo-European) with Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”), Latin mensus, Russian ме́ра (méra, “measure”), Lithuanian mẽtas. Related to Old English mǣþ (“measure, degree, proportion”).

## Easily confused with
- **ML** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-ml)
- **men** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-men)
- **met** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-met)
- **med** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-med)
- **MIA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mia)
- **mel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mel)
- **mil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mil)
- **MMA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mma)
- **meh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-meh)
- **Mei** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mei)
- **MLA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mla)
- **mer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mer)
- **mol** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mol)
- **MEP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mep)
- **mee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mee)
- **mes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mes)
- **mew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mew)
- **moa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-moa)
- **mex** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-mex)
- **MSA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meal-vs-msa)

## Common misspellings (3)
`emal`, `meall`, `mmeal`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/meal