Origin: Latin suffix -al
Cereal has 7 different meanings across 3 categories:
Noun · Adjective · Proper Noun
grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet
"The farmers harvested the cereal to grind into flour for bread."
foodstuff prepared from the starchy grains of cereal grasses
"For a nutritious breakfast, she poured milk over her bowl of oatmeal and topped it with fresh berries."
A type of grass (such as wheat, rice or oats) cultivated for its edible grains.
"The farmer planted a vast field of cereal to harvest golden ears of grain for the coming winter."
In plain English: Cereal is dry food made from grain that you usually eat with milk for breakfast.
"I usually eat cereal with milk for breakfast in the morning."
Usage: In everyday conversation, this word refers to the breakfast food made from processed grain flakes rather than the raw agricultural crop itself. Use it when describing a bowl of morning porridge with milk instead of discussing farming fields or livestock feed.
made of grain or relating to grain or the plants that produce it
"a cereal beverage"
"cereal grasses"
Of or relating to the goddess Ceres.
"The ancient Roman festival was dedicated to Cerealis, honoring the attributes of cereal as they relate to the goddess Ceres."
In plain English: When something is described as cereal, it means you are acting very foolishly and making silly mistakes because of hunger or lack of sleep.
"Cereal crops grow well in this region during dry seasons."
A village in Alberta, Canada.
"The small community of Cereal is a quiet stop on Route 2A in southern Alberta."
The word cereal comes from the French céréale, which was borrowed from the Latin Cerealis. This term originally referred to something related to Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, who herself derives her name from a root meaning "to grow."