cereal

See also: Cereal

English

Wheat, a cereal (1).

Etymology

Borrowed from French céréale (“having to do with cereal”), from Latin Cerealis (“of or relating to Ceres”), from Ceres (“Roman goddess of agriculture”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“grow”), from which also Latin sincerus (English sincere) and Latin crēscō (“grow”) (English crescent).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪə.ɹɪ.əl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɚ.i.əl/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [ˈsiːɹiəl]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: serial

Noun

cereal (countable and uncountable, plural cereals)

1. (countable) A type of grass (such as wheat, rice or oats) cultivated for its edible grains.
2. (uncountable) The grains of such a grass.
3. (uncountable) Breakfast cereal.

   Would you like some cereal?

   Which cereal would you like for breakfast?

   a bowl of cereal

Synonyms

• (edible grains): foodgrain

Hyponyms

• (Cereals) cereal; barley, fonio, maize/corn, millet, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, teff, triticale, wheat

Derived terms

• cereal bar
• cereal dust
• cerealic
• cerealin
• cerealist
• cereal killer
• cereal leaf beetle
• cerealogy
• noncereal
• pseudocereal

Related terms

• crescent
• sincere

Translations

type of grass

• Albanian: drithi m
• Armenian: հացաբույս (hy) (hacʻabuys), հացահատիկային կուլտուրա (hy) (hacʻahatikayin kultura)
• Azerbaijani: taxıl (az)
• Basque: zereal
• Bulgarian: житна култура f (žitna kultura)
• Catalan: cereal (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 穀物 / 谷物 (zh) (gǔwù), 穀類 / 谷类 (zh) (gǔlèi)

• Czech: obilnina (cs) f
• Danish: korn, kornsort (da)
• Estonian: teravili
• Fijian: covuata
• Finnish: vilja (fi)
• French: céréale (fr) f
• Galician: cereal (gl) m
• Georgian: ხორბლის (xorblis)
• German: Getreide (de) n, Korn (de) n, Zerealie (de) f
• Greek: δημητριακά (el) n pl (dimitriaká)
• Haitian Creole: sereyal
• Hebrew: דָּגָן (he) m (dagán)
• Hindi: खाद्यान्न (hi) m (khādyānn)
• Hungarian: gabona (hu), gabonafélék (hu) pl, gabonaneműek pl, gabonanövény (hu), szemestermény, liszttermék, cereália
• Indonesian: sereal
• Italian: cereale (it) f
• Japanese: 穀物 (ja) (kokumotsu)
• Latin: sacrificium n
• Latvian: labība (lv) f
• Lithuanian: javas m
• Macedonian: житарка f (žitarka), жито n (žito)
• Malay: bijian
• Maori: pata kai
• Nepali: खाद्यान्न (ne) (khādyānna), अनाज (ne) (anāj)
• Polish: zboże (pl) f
• Portuguese: cereal (pt) m
• Quechua: riwi
• Romanian: cereală (ro) f
• Russian: злак (ru) m (zlak), зернова́я культу́ра f (zernovája kulʹtúra)
• Serbo-Croatian: žitarica (sh) f
• Slovene: žito (sl)
• Spanish: cereal (es) m, herbal m
• Swahili: nafaka (sw)
• Swedish: sädesslag (sv) n
• Tagalog: angkak
• Thai: ธัญพืช (th) (tan-yá-pʉ̂ʉt)
• Turkish: tahıl (tr), hububat (tr)
• Vietnamese: ngũ cốc (vi)
• Welsh: ŷd m
• Zulu: okusanhlamvu

grains of such a grass

• Armenian: հացահատիկ (hy) (hacʻahatik)
• Bashkir: ярма (yarma), аш (aş)
• Bulgarian: зърнени храни pl (zǎrneni hrani)
• Catalan: cereals (ca) m pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 穀物 / 谷物 (zh) (gǔwù)

• Czech: obilí (cs) n
• Danish: korn
• Egyptian: (sšr)
• Finnish: vilja (fi), viljanjyvä
• Galician: cereais m pl
• Georgian: ხორბლეული (xorbleuli)
• German: Getreide (de) n, Korn (de) n, Frucht (de) f

  Alemannic German: Frucht f

• Greek: δημητριακά (el) n pl (dimitriaká)

  Ancient: σῖτος m (sîtos), (Epic) ἀκτή m (aktḗ)

• Hindi: खाद्यान्न (hi) m (khādyānn)
• Hungarian: gabona (hu), gabonaszem (hu)
• Karachay-Balkar: джарма (carma)
• Khakas: чарба (çarba)
• Korean: 곡물 (ko) (gongmul)
• Kumyk: ярма (yarma)
• Latin: frūmentum n
• Latvian: labība (lv) f
• Macedonian: зрна n (zrna), жито n (žito)
• Malay: bijirin (ms)
• Maori: huapata
• Nepali: खाद्यान्न (ne) (khādyānna), अनाज (ne) (anāj)
• Polish: zboże (pl) n
• Portuguese: cereais m pl
• Romanian: cereală (ro) f, grâne (ro)
• Russian: крупа́ (ru) f (krupá)
• Serbo-Croatian: zrno (sh) n
• Slovene: zrno (sl)
• Southern Altai: јарма (ǰarma)
• Spanish: cereales (es) m pl, cereal (es) m, mies (es) f
• Swedish: korn (sv) n
• Tagalog: angkak
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: grawn m

breakfast cereal — see breakfast cereal

Adjective

cereal (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to cereal.
   • 1818, H[enry] T[homas] Colebrooke, On Import of Colonial Corn, London: J[ohn] Murray, →OCLC, page 20; quoted in “Cereal (sīᵊ·riˌăl), a. and sb.”, in James A[ugustus] H[enry] Murray [et al.], editors, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume II (C), London: Clarendon Press, 1884–1928, →OCLC, page 230, column 1:

     Wheat .. is, of all the cereal seeds, the best adapted to the making of bread.

   • 1837, Henry Duncan, “Eleventh Week—Wednesday. The Corn-Plants.—Rice, Maize, and Millet.”, in Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons; Illustrating the Perfections of God in the Phenomena of the Year, [volume 1] (Spring), Edinburgh: William Oliphant and Son;  […], →OCLC, page 333:

     Millet, the smallest of all the cereal seeds cultivated for food, grows on arid soils, where rice and maize cannot be successfully cultivated, […]

   • 1853, George Johnston, “The Natural History of the Eastern Borders”, in The Botany of the Eastern Borders, […], London: John Van Voorst, […], →OCLC, page 19:

     The river flows on, washing the base of the sandstone fossiliferous bank at Preston-bridge,—lightening up the rich valley of Preston-haugh,—lending beauty to the open demesnes of Broomhouse, and to the sylvan and cereal grounds of Blanerne; […]

   • 1864, Daniel Oliver, “Natural Order—Gramineæ. The Grass Family.”, in Lessons in Elementary Botany. […], London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, part II (Classification of Plants), class II (Monocotyledons), sub-class Glumiferæ, page 267:

     The species printed in small capitals are Corn-producing or Cereal Grasses, called Cereals, from Ceres, the Roman goddess of Corn.

Further reading

• Lists of cereals at Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Carlee, alerce, claree, cleare, relace

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Cereālis (“relating to Ceres”), from Cerēs (“goddess of agriculture”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [sə.ɾeˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [se.ɾeˈal]

Noun

cereal m (plural cereals)

1. cereal (type of grass cultivated for edible grains)
   • 2008, Miquel Pujol i Palol, Les plantes cultivades. 1. Cereals, →ISBN, page 24:

     Tant a Catalunya com a Espanya la importància del cultiu dels cereals ha anat augmentant en els darrers 40 anys.

     In Catalonia as well as in Spain, the importance of cereal crops has been increasing in the past 40 years.

2. (uncountable) cereal (the grains of such plants)
3. (in the plural) breakfast cereal (food processed from grains and eaten with milk)

Further reading

• “cereal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “cereal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “cereal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “cereal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θeɾeˈal/

Noun

cereal m (plural cereais)

1. cereal

Further reading

• “cereal”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Cereālis (“relating to Ceres”), from Cerēs (“goddess of agriculture”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /se.ɾeˈaw/ [se.ɾeˈaʊ̯], /se.ɾiˈaw/ [se.ɾɪˈaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /seˈɾjaw/ [seˈɾjaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /se.ɾeˈaw/ [se.ɾeˈaʊ̯], /se.ɾiˈaw/ [se.ɾɪˈaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /seˈɾjaw/ [seˈɾjaʊ̯]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /se.ɾeˈaw/ [se.ɾeˈaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨˈɾjal/ [sɨˈɾjaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨˈɾjal/ [sɨˈɾjaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /sɨˈɾja.li/

• (Northeast Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛ.ɾɛ.ˈaw/, /ˌsɛ.ˈɾjaw/
• Homophone: serial
• Rhymes: -al, -aw

Noun

cereal m (plural cereais)

1. cereal (type of grass cultivated for edible grains)
2. (uncountable) cereal (the grains of such plants)
3. breakfast cereal (food processed from grains and eaten with milk)

Hypernyms

• (type of grass): gramínea

Hyponyms

• (Cereals) cereal; arroz, aveia, centeio, cevada, fonio, milhete/milheto, milho, sorgo, trigo, triticale

Related terms

• cerealicultor
• cerealicultura
• cerealífero
• cerealina
• cerealista
• Ceres

Further reading

• “cereal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Cereālis (“relating to Ceres”), from Cerēs (“goddess of agriculture”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /θeɾeˈal/ [θe.ɾeˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /seɾeˈal/ [se.ɾeˈal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ce‧re‧al

Noun

cereal m (plural cereales)

1. cereal (type of grass cultivated for edible grains)
2. (uncountable) cereal (the grains of such plants)
3. (in the plural) breakfast cereal (food processed from grains and eaten with milk)

Further reading

• “cereal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10