Supper

How to spell supper

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce supper

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does supper mean?

1. nounA meal eaten in the evening, often the last and lighter meal of the day.

Supper in a sentence

• They sat down to a quiet supper after the children were in bed.

• Soup and warm bread made a simple supper on cold nights.

Where does supper come from?

Language of origin: French

Supper entered English in the 1200s from the Old French souper or super, a noun formed from the verb souper, meaning 'to eat the evening meal'. That verb was itself of Germanic origin and is closely tied to the old word 'sup', meaning 'to sip' or 'to take small mouthfuls of liquid', a reminder that the evening meal once centred on broth or soup taken at the end of the day. The same root sits behind both 'sup' and 'soup', and that family connection explains the single 'p' sound stretched across the doubled letters. Over the centuries the meaning settled into the lighter or final meal of the day, distinct from the larger midday dinner in many households. The doubled 'p' is the spelling point to watch: it follows the short, stressed 'u' the way it does in 'supple' and 'upper', even though only one 'p' is heard.

How the word is built

• sup (to sip/take liquid)
• -per (noun ending, via Old French)