cereal
Meaning
A plant that is grown to produce grain, such as wheat, rice, or maize.
The grain produced by such a plant, used as food.
A breakfast food made from roasted grain, typically eaten with milk.
Structure
Usage
Wheat and barley are important cereal crops.
The country exports large quantities of cereal.
For breakfast, she had a bowl of cereal with sliced bananas.
Etymology
The word 'cereal' is derived from the Latin adjective 'Cereālis', meaning 'of or relating to Ceres'. Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain crops, and fertility, whose name is thought to be rooted in the Proto-Indo-European ḱer-, meaning 'to grow'. The term was originally used in English in the adjective form 'cereal' to describe things pertaining to grain. By the early 19th century, it had substantivized to refer directly to the edible grains themselves, and later, in the 20th century, to the processed breakfast food made from them, thus completing a journey from divine patronage to a common household staple.
Analysis
'cere' originates from Latin 'Cereālis', meaning 'of grain, of Ceres'. 'al' is a suffix from Latin '-ālis', forming adjectives meaning 'of, relating to, or characterized by'.