What is the difference between dinner and supper?

Supper is used especially when the meal is an informal one eaten at home, while dinner tends to be the term chosen when the meal is more formal. In some dialects and especially in British English, supper can also refer to a light meal or snack that is eaten late in the evening.

Do Americans call it supper or dinner?

In most parts of the United States and Canada today, “supper” and “dinner” are considered synonyms (although supper is a more antiquated term). In Saskatchewan, and much of Atlantic Canada, “supper” means the main meal of the day, usually served in the late afternoon, while “dinner” is served around noon.

What’s the difference between lunch dinner and supper?

In the middle of the day, you might have lunch or dinner. So, dinner is really the main meal and people might have it in the middle of the day or in the evening. Lunch and supper are both light kinds of meal. Lunch is in the middle of the day, supper is in the evening.

Why do Americans call dinner supper?

Instead of cooking more food, people traditionally just ate soup or leftovers from dinner. “Supper” became “dinner” because evenings became the only time working class families were able to gather for a meal.

What time is supper in America?

‘dinner’ or ‘supper’ is the evening meal 5-7pm, or if later than that, more likely to be called a ‘late dinner’ or ‘late supper’.

What part of the US says supper?

Regionally it appeared that supper was used most in the Midwest and the South. Another of my friends provided this bit of background, “Dinner is considered to be the ‘main’ or largest meal of the day, whether it takes place at noon or in the evening. Supper is more specifically a lighter evening meal.

Is supper a Northern or Southern term?

It’s not necessarily an American South or Midwestern tradition, but instead is a farming families’ trademark. Because the Southern and Midwestern states were heavily agricultural, supper was implicitly the lighter, late evening meal and dinner was the larger, main meal of the day.

Why is it called supper?

Supper stems from the word “sup,” and it’s also related to the German word for soup (“suppe”). According to the English Language & Usage Stack Exchange, families would put on a pot of soup to simmer throughout the day and eat it later in the evening, which was also known as “supping” the hot soup.

Why is it called dinner?

Oddly enough, the word dinner comes from the 11th century Old French word disner, which meant “to eat breakfast.” As the word was absorbed into English as dinner, it came to refer to the “main” meal of the day, the timing of which changed over the centuries.

What states use the word supper?

Indeed, the word supper is related to suppe, the German word for soup. This is still the norm in some parts of the U.S. As Wide Open Eats discovered through Google Trends, a search for “supper” is most common in Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.

Is supper a regional word?

What is the difference between a supper and a dinner?

Dinner is usually referred to the main meal or biggest meal of the day generally taken during the afternoon or the evening whereas supper is always associated with evening. Supper is a lighter meal often considered as an evening snack. Basically difference between dinner and supper is in the amount of food consumed.

Which is correct Supper or dinner?

Dinner or supper is the evening meal between 5 to 7 pm, or if later than that, more likely to be called as a “late dinner” or “late supper”. In some regions in the US, people call lunch (midday meal) to refer to dinner while others call dinner as supper. Either way, both regarded as the main meal of the day.

Is Supper and dinner the same thing?

Dinner and breakfast mean the same thing but breakfast is always the first meal of the day. Dinner is always the largest most significant meal of the day. Lunch is a mid day light meal and supper is a small evening meal.

Does dinner come before supper?

Dinner is a primary meal eaten before supper. Supper is a primary meal eaten after dinner. Lunch can replace dinner for many, however, we have to remember that not all cultures operate on a three meal per day schedule. Looking at the root word of each meal, you can infer a greater understanding.