What is the Latin word for bread?

The usual Latin words for “bread” are pānis, vincō, plēbēius; also secundārius, pūrus, malus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“bread” in Latin

pānisbread, loaf; food or nourishment in general, whether physical or spiritual; a mass in the shape of a loaf vincōto win; to conquer, to defeat, to vanquish; to overpower plēbēiusplebeian, of or from the plebs; of the common people or populace, vulgar; mean, low secundāriussecond-class, second-rate, of inferior quality pūrusclear, limpid; clean; pure malusunpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad; unpleasant to the senses, sight, smell, taste, touch; bad, evil, wicked, m

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

bread

panis. Common, every-day bread, panis cibarius, plebeius. Coarse bread, panis secundus or secundarius. Pure, white bread, panis siligineus. Light bread, panis tener. Light and white bread, panis molli siligine. Good, bad bread, panis bonus, malus. Hard bread, panis durus. Old, new bread, panis vetus, recens. Yesterday’s bread, panis hesternus. Leartned bread, panis fermentatus. Musty bread, panis mucidus. To eat something wish bread, aliquid cum pane, ad panem edere. What is eaten with bread, opsonium. The making of bread, panificium. Want of bread, inopia frumentaria or rei frumentariae; penuria frumenti or cibi Bread-basket, panarium, panariolum. Bread-market, forum pistorium.

FIG., support, sustenance. victus, victus quotidianus; res ad vitam necessariae. To seek his bread, victum quaerere, quaeritare. To earn his bread, parare ea, quae ad victum suppeditant. To earn his bread easily, facile quaerere victum: by the sweat of his brow, *sudore ac labore victum quaerere. He has his bread, habet unde vivat. To labor for one’s daily bread, diurnum victum qaaerere; diurno quaestu famem propulsare; *quaestum quotidianum facere (quaestum quotidianum, Cic., Cat., 4, 8, 17). Want of one’s daily bread, inopia quaestus, inopia quaestus et penuria alimentorum (Ter.). To labor for one’s bread, victum quaerere. He worked for his daily bread, ei opera vita erat (Ter., Phorm., 2, 3, 16). To take the bread out of a man’s mouth, deprive him of his bread, victu aliquem privare, rejicere aliquem ad famem. He has hardly bread to eat, *vix habet, unde vitam toleret.

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for bread?: The usual Latin words for “bread” are pānis, vincō, plēbēius; also secundārius, pūrus, malus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.