Porridge
/ˈpɒɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA dish made of grain or legumes, milk or water, heated and stirred until thick and typically eaten for breakfast.
nounA dish made of grain or legumes, milk or water, heated and stirred until thick and typically eaten for breakfast., Oat porridge; oatmeal.
Sentence Examples
Miss Pizza and Mr Porridge were walking in the woods.
The old man ate some rice porridge.
He forgot to stir the porridge, so it became scorched.
CEFR Practice Quiz
For breakfast, she ate a warm bowl of oats cooked into a soft food called ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She made a warm bowl of ____ with honey and sliced banana for breakfast on the cold morning.
Word Origin & History
Variant of pottage (“thick soup or stew”), influenced by porray (“stew of leeks”). The "prison sentence" sense comes from the British tradition of serving prisoners porridge for breakfast.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"There were rumours, new rumours every morning, delightful and outrageous rumours, so that the lumps in the porridge were swallowed without comment and the fish-cakes were eaten without contumely."
— 1922, Michael Arlen, “1/1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
For breakfast, she ate a warm bowl of oats cooked into a soft food called ____.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She made a warm bowl of ____ with honey and sliced banana for breakfast on the cold morning.