April 19, 2020 - Tiffin

Word of the Day

Tiffin

Pronunciation

[TIH-fihn]

Popularity Over Time

Part of speech

Noun

Origin

Indian, early 19^th century

Definition(s)

1. A light meal, especially lunch.
2. A type of lunchbox.

Used in a sentence

1. Would you like to join us for a tiffin before you leave?
2. My husband always packs up the leftovers in a tiffin for me to take to work for lunch.

About the Word

As a noun, a tiffin is a small snack, or possibly the box used to carry your lunch. Then you could use it as a verb for eating that light midday meal. The roots are in English, but India has adopted the term, and it's primarily used there today.

Did you know?

Tiff is an old-fashioned English term for taking a small sip of something. When Great Britain colonized India, the word tiffin made the leap as well, used for a snack or light lunch. It's stayed primarily an Indian term, even serving as the name of a stackable type of lunchbox.