breadline
UK[ˈbredlaɪn]US[ˈbredlaɪn]
n
The level of income that is just enough to buy the basic food needed to survive.
n
The condition of being very poor and having barely enough to live on.
Morpheme Breakdown
bread
line
bread
morsel, piece of food, bread.
line
cord, rope, series, limit.
Etymology
The compound word "breadline" is a distinctly modern English formation, emerging in American English around the turn of the 20th century. It literally combines "bread," the archetypal symbol of basic sustenance, with "line," evoking the image of a queue of impoverished people waiting for free food or charitable aid. The term's logic is vividly metaphorical: the "line" represents the critical threshold or limit between having the bare minimum for survival ("bread") and having nothing. Over time, its meaning expanded from the literal queue to describe the state of living at the very edge of subsistence, powerfully encapsulating the concept of extreme poverty in an industrial, urban context.
Analysis
Structure: bread + line
- bread: From Old English 'brēad', meaning "morsel, piece of food, bread." It functions as the core noun representing the most basic staple food.
- line: From Old English 'līne', meaning "cord, rope, series, limit." It functions as a noun forming a metaphorical boundary or limit.
Examples
During the Great Depression, millions of people were on the breadline.
Rising inflation has pushed many families below the breadline.
The charity works to support those living on the breadline.