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Glite Dictionary
brown bread

brown bread

1 1.0
A type of bread made from whole wheat flour that is darker and denser than white bread
  • noun
  • /braʊn brɛd/
  • UK
translation icon : pan integral
  • "You should have come to me," she said, cutting a slice of thick brown bread.
  • beans and brown bread
  • cheese slices on brown bread
  • slice of brown bread

And my mom would do brown bread, plain yogurt and boiled squash, you know, like the absolute most disgusting things that a child could imagine eating.

Examples

  • "I also have brown bread and butter," she said, "for later."

    Fiction book (1999)

  • "For me, real American food means baked beans with brown bread."

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I think brown bread is better, though.

    Blog text (16)

  • I prefer ham in brown bread.

    Blog text (16)

  • There is supper: brown bread, baked beans, grilled ham.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • They had cold meat, brown bread, sour salty yogurt with raw peas, and carrots with herbs.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • On the third evening, she ladled out the beans from a large soup tureen, which sat in the middle of the table next to a turkey platter mounded with steaming brown bread and hot dogs.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • At lunchtime, we ate thick sandwiches on fresh brown bread from town.

  • "For me, real American food means baked beans with brown bread.":

  • There is supper: brown bread, baked beans, grilled ham.

Synonyms

whole wheat bread
vsbrown bread
  • US
3 1.0

A type of bread made from the whole wheat grain that is denser and healthier than white bread

is darker and sometimes includes cornmeal or molasses rather than plain grain loaf
dark bread
vsbrown bread
1 2.7

A loaf made from whole wheat or other dark flours

is mainly from whole grain flour and often includes cornmeal or molasses
wholemeal bread
vsbrown bread
  • UK
2.0

Bread made from whole grain flour that keeps all parts of the grain

is darker and may include sweeteners or cornmeal beyond simple whole grain
Boston brown bread
vsbrown bread
6.8

A dark steamed bread made from cornmeal and molasses, often served warm

is usually baked and more generally made from whole grain flour
cracked-wheat bread
vsbrown bread
3.3

Bread made with small pieces of wheat that make it coarse and nutty

is darker and denser and may include added ingredients like molasses

How Brown

dark bread
1 2.7
brown bread
  • UK
1 1.0
white bread
12 1.0

Surface Forms

brown bread singular
brown breads plural

Morphology

brown + bread

The meaning 'bread made from whole wheat or whole grain flour' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'brown' (a color/type descriptor) with 'bread' (a baked food). Adjective+noun color/type constructions are cross-linguistically common and follow standard compositional rules, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer this meaning.

Etymology

Brown bread names bread that is brown because it is made from whole wheat or whole grain flour. The whole grains and sometimes added ingredients make the loaf darker and heavier, so brown describes the colour and bread the food, and the name simply means 'bread made from whole grain'.