Do you need the word prandial in your life, or its related terms, like anteprandial and postprandial?

Nope! But I hope you'll enjoy them anyway. I remember laughing so hard with my sister when we discovered the word postprandial, meaning "after eating," and we'd offer each other a postprandial mint.

"Prandial" and its related words all trace back to the Latin edere, which can mean "to eat" but also "to exist" and "to produce or publish." They're related to other words about food, like edible and comestible ("able to be eaten"), obese (literally "[fat] because of eating"), and obes___ic ("tending to cause people to become or stay obese"). And they're related to words about producing and publishing, like edit, editor, and edition.

Now... why did Latin have the same word for "eat" and "exist" and "publish"? Maybe that adage about having to "publish or perish" goes back way further than we thought? Get published, or don't eat, then stop existing? Just kidding. I have no idea.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  

The word "prandial" dates back to the 1700s in English. It has Latin bits that literally mean "an early or first eating," and less literally "a late breakfast or an early lunch: whatever meal you eat first in a day."

In English, "prandial" is a fun, silly, rare, overly academic word that means having to do with eating or with mealtimes.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "prandial conversation," "prandial expenses."

Other forms: 

It's got some closely related adjectives: "preprandial" and "anteprandial" (both meaning "before a meal")  and "postprandial" ("after a meal"). To hear their pronunciations, give them a click.

how to use it:

The rare word "prandial" is quirky and old-fashioned. When that's the tone you're going for, talk about prandial habits, routines, rituals, preparations, conversation, arguments, etc.

To get extra-quirky, talk about preprandial or anteprandial things: those that you do before eating; and postprandial things: those that you do after eating. For example, I'm a fan of anteprandial walks and postprandial cups of green tea.

examples:

"Plates heaping with tender fried artichokes and zucchini, followed by impossibly fresh burrata, ricotta and mozzarella, arrive one after the other. So good is the homemade orecchiette pasta in a slightly bitter sauce of rapini that I go for a second helping. Even in multi-course-crazy Italy, the length and variety of this prandial parade stand out." 
— Paul Abercrombie, Washington Post, 21 April 2016

"Cappy had smoked his post-prandial cigar next day and was in the midst of his mid-afternoon siesta."
— Peter B. Kyne, Cappy Ricks Retires, 1922

has this page helped you understand "prandial"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "prandial" without saying "related to dining" or "related to mealtimes."

try it out:

In an old magazine, a writer observed:

"Our prandial prejudices are merely the result of custom. There is no real reason why stewed prunes should not be eaten at three A.M."

First, explain what this writer means. Then, see if you can give an example of your own prandial prejudices, or an example of how you defy society's prandial prejudices.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Eddie Izzardisms!"

Consider a quote from Eddie Izzard's delightful stand-up comedy, and decide which of three given terms you can most easily connect it to. You can see my suggested answer by scrolling to the bottom of the issue. But yours doesn't need to match mine. 

Try this one today:

"If you are on the cutting edge of style, you can look really way out there, off the map... Very advanced fashion almost joins up with having no fashion sense at all. So, I turned up in combat trousers and Jesus sandals and a corduroy jacket. " 

Devious, ostentatious, or uroboric?

(That one's actually not from Izzard's standup but the book Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens.)

review this word:

1. ANTEPRANDIAL and POSTPRANDIAL are opposites that mean, respectively,

A. "before waking" and "after waking."
B. "before a dance" and "after a dance."
C. "before a meal" and "after a meal."

2. In an article about some scientific research on thirst, a writer for the BBC referred to "prandial thirst" as the kind that comes "while we _____."

A. consume a big, salty meal
B. expose ourselves to the sun
C. elevate our heartrates through exercise

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. A From the game, here's a suggested answer: I'd go with uroboric, because very advanced fashion is so wild that it seems to have eaten itself.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.