Well attestedNamed from the place
French bread
noun · first attested 17th century
For most of its life in English the phrase had nothing to do with the baguette.
A long, crusty white loaf of the French kind.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 17th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
France
- In English
French bread
Early modern English cookery used French bread for any light, white, well-risen wheaten loaf made in the French manner, in contrast to heavy English household bread. The long thin loaf the phrase now names is a twentieth-century Paris form, and the word baguette is not recorded for bread until the 1920s. A 1993 French decree still fixes what a traditional baguette may contain.
Also pinned to France
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France
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