What does breakfasting mean?
Breakfasting is the present participle and gerund of the verb 'to breakfast', meaning to eat the first meal of the day. The word carries a distinctly literary and often leisurely flavor: one might picture guests breakfasting on a hotel terrace, or a novelist's characters breakfasting over coffee and newspapers. It derives from the compound noun 'breakfast', which literally means 'breaking the fast' — ending the period without food that occurs during sleep — a phrase current in English since the fifteenth century. While everyday speech usually prefers phrases like 'having' or 'eating' breakfast, the verb form survives gracefully in descriptive writing, lending an air of unhurried elegance to the morning meal.
Present participle of 'breakfast': to eat the first meal of the day.
"They were breakfasting quietly on the veranda when the storm rolled in."
Slightly formal or literary register.
The action or occasion of eating breakfast.
"Long, lazy breakfasting became their favorite holiday tradition."
Less common than the verbal use; found mostly in descriptive or humorous writing.
To 'breakfast' is literally to break your fast — the word records a nightly ritual of going without food that most of us no longer even notice.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of breakfasting
The word comes from the noun 'breakfast', formed from the verbs 'break' and 'fast' — literally, breaking the overnight fast. The compound has been used for the morning meal in English since the late Middle Ages, and the derived verb 'to breakfast' followed shortly thereafter. Its roots are thoroughly Germanic: 'break' from Old English 'brecan' and 'fast' from Old English 'fæsten', related to the notion of firm observance of abstinence. Cognates of the two elements appear across Germanic languages, such as German 'brechen' and 'Fasten'.
Related word forms
How breakfasting is actually used
Somewhat formal or literary in tone compared with simply 'having breakfast'; common in narrative prose and travel writing. The verb 'to breakfast' itself is slightly old-fashioned but well attested.
Easily confused with breakfasting
'Breaking' means shattering or interrupting something, whereas 'breakfasting' specifically refers to eating the morning meal.