Toasting Bread and Drinking a Toast Are the Same Word
A toaster browns bread. The drinking toast comes from the same word, by way of a piece of spiced toast dropped into wine.
A toaster browns bread with heat. The drinking sense shares the origin: it was once common to put a piece of spiced toast in a cup of wine to flavour it, and drinking to a lady's health was compared to that toast flavouring the drink. Raising a glass and browning bread are the same word.
- An appliance for browning bread. *A four-slice toaster.*
- Toast — browned bread. *Butter the toast.*
- Toast — a drink in someone's honour. *Raise a toast.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | toaster | A chrome toaster. |
| Plural | toasters | Two toasters. |
| Verb | toast | Toast the bread. |
| Noun | toast | Toast and jam. |
| Person | toastmaster | The toastmaster announced. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The toaster only browns one side.A common complaint.
- Let us raise a toast to the couple.Celebration.
- He was toast after that mistake.Slang: finished.
Toast facts
- Maillard reaction — the browning that creates flavour
- Pop-up toaster — patented in 1919, domestic from the 1920s
- Toast rack — a British device for cooling toast until unpleasantly cold
- Toastmaster — announces speeches at formal dinners
- French toast — bread soaked in egg and fried
From Old French *toster*, to roast, from Latin *torrere*, to parch or dry — the same root as *torrid* and *terra torrida*, the burnt zone.
Why is a drink called a toast?
From the spiced toast once floated in wine to flavour it. Drinking to someone's health was said to flavour the occasion in the same way.
Why does toast taste different from bread?
Because of the Maillard reaction between sugars and amino acids at high temperature, which creates hundreds of new flavour compounds.