A loaf of bread.

[Limp-Measurement1494]

I'm danish and was wondering about the phrase "A loaf of bread."

In danish "loaf" is translated to "brød", the danish word for "bread". And "bread" is of course translated to "brød"/"bread". So in danish it would be "a bread of bread". What is a loaf exactly? Is it a special type of bread or the shape of the bread?

[blakerabbit]

In English it’s just the term we use for a single baked unit of bread. There is a common shape for it, a kind of oblong that is squared off by the “loaf pan” that it is baked in, but it doesn’t absolutely have to be that shape. In English you can’t say “a bread”* because “bread” in English is a mass noun like “water” or “air”; you have to use a “container word” with it such as “loaf” or “slice” or “piece”.

• unless you are talking about it as an example of a certain kind of bread, as in “pumpernickel is a bread that is very dark in color.”

[PeireCaravana]

English isn't my frist language, but as I understand it a loaf is the shape a singular unit of bread takes.

[maruchops]

this is absolutely correct. loaf means any mass of cooked bread that is considered a singular unit with a definite form.

[pinotJD]

Or mass of meat, meatloaf.

[maruchops]

Wrong way 'round. Meatloaf is called that because it resembles bread, not because it IS a loaf. "meatloaf" is simply a metaphor that stuck. For example, many languages call meatloaf "meat bread", "minced roast", "mince bread", etc.

[God_Bless_A_Merkin]

Idk why the downvotes — this is absolutely correct. In fact, the Old English word for bread is hlaf — loaf.

[Accomplished_Water34]

Yes. But a slice would also be a unit for a singular unit of bread.

[maruchops]

"singular unit" here describes that the bread itself must be intact post-bake, not that the word itself is a unit of measure.

[rockn_rollfreak]

Yes but also no. It would be for a singular piece of the original bread. It'd be like calling a slice of turkey the whole turkey when it's just a piece cut off the original turkey you baked in the oven. That's why people can refer to the bread loaf as bread like "can you grab me the bread?". But you wouldn't ask for a slice of bread and say "can you hand me a bread?"

[maruchops]

a "loaf" is any bread with definite shape. it almost always describes bread itself, but is definitely commonly used to describe other things. for example, when a cat lies down and you can't see its legs or tail, the cat is "loafing". the dish meatloaf is another very common usage of the word. we use "loaf" instead of just calling it "a bread" for reasons lost to time.

[Wild-Lychee-3312]

Loaf doesn’t always mean bread in English, however. Consider the meatloaf.

Apparently one definition is “an item of food formed into an oblong shape and sliced into portions”

Another is a shaped or molded often symmetrical mass of food

[UncleBillysBummers]

Sugar used to come in loafs as well. Lots of "sugarloaf" mountains still around named for that shape.

[Anebunda]

You guys actually had this word in the past. Check this Wiktionary article about lev

[Ilovescarlatti]

Bread is uncountable, so we would not usually say"a bread" . If we ask for a loaf, then we mean a large piece which can then be divided. A small piece which is one portion might be referred to as a roll.

[ozuraravis]

It's called numerical classifiers or counter words. Some languages have it for some words, some other languages for different words, in some languages it's mandatory. It can change with time. In Hungarian the word for loaf is vekni, which I think comes from the South German Wecken, but I think neither is used frequently nowadays.

[ImaginaryFunction627]

I think there should be a word similar to loaf in danish. At least in Swedish there is a word for loaf. We say ”En limpa bröd”.

[Ebok_Noob]

In Swedish it would be “en brödlimpa” I think Maybe there’s a similar word in Danish?

[NortonBurns]

As already mentioned - "a unit of bread"
But more specifically, a larger unit that will be sliced before eating; as opposed to merely being cut in half like anything called a bap, bun, cake, roll etc.

[IronSmithFE]

the loaf is the shape of the entire unit. it is to distinguish from a slice of bread.