Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Cereal |
CerealAdjective1. Made of grain or relating to grain or the plants that produce it; "a cereal beverage"; "cereal grasses". Noun1. Grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet. 2. Cereal grain suitable as food for human beings. 3. A breakfast food prepared from grain. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "cereal" was first used: 1832. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | A prepared foodstuff of grain (as oatmeal or cornflakes) used esp. as a breakfast food. Source: European Union. (references) |
| A plant. . . yielding farinaceous seeds suitable for food. . . also the seeds or grain so produced either in their original state or commercially prepared. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Breakfast cereal is a food product designed especially to be marketed to consumers as a breakfast food. Though cereal is a staple of daily meals in many countries around the world, in wealthier, consumer-conscious nations such as the United States, entire industries have been created dedicated to the sale of specialized products, such as breakfast cereals. Breakfast cereals are generally eaten cold and mixed with milk as opposed to hot cereals like oatmeal, grits, etc.Breakfast cereals are marketed to all ages. For adults, companies such as Kellogg's, Quaker Oats, and General Mills promote their products for the health benefits gained from eating oat-based and grain-based cereals. Nevertheless, the vast majority of breakfast cereal sold is marketed to young children. Cereal manufacturers have been criticized for manufacturing breakfast cereals with a heavy sugar content aimed at children. Sugar-laden breakfast cereals have been extremely popular with children for decades, and many adults also buy them out of nostalgia (also because they enjoy the taste). The US government requires breakfast cereals to be fortified with various vitamins.
Popular breakfast cereals include:
See also hot cereals:
- Cap'n Crunch
- Cheerios
- Corn flakes
- Lucky Charms
- Muesli
- Rice Krispies
- Weetabix
External link: http://www.cerealadventure.com/Cerealfun.asp?location=CHistory
- Oatmeal
- Grits
- Farina
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Breakfast cereal."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Cereal crops are mostly grasses cultivated for their edible seeds (actually a fruit called a grain). Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities worldwide than any other type of crop and provide more calories to the human race. In some developing nations, cereal grains constitute practically the entire diet of common folk. In developed nations, cereal consumption is more moderate but still substantial. The word cereal has its origin in the goddess of grain, Ceres. Staple food grains are often called corn.
Cereal crops
True cereals
The cereal crops are (in approximate order of greatest annual production):
- wheat, the primary cereal of temperate regions
- rice, the primary cereal of tropical regions
- maize, a staple food of peoples in North America, South America, and Africa and of livestock worldwide
- the millets, a group of similar but distinct cereals that form an important staple food in Asia and Africa.
- sorghum, important staple food in Asia and Africa and popular worldwide for livestock
- rye and triticale, important in cold climates
- oats, formerly the staple food of Scotland and popular worldwide for livestock
- barley, grown for malting and livestock on land too poor for wheat
- teff, popular in Ethiopia but scarcely known elsewhere
- wild rice, grown in small amounts in the USA
- spelt, a close relative of wheat
Pseudocereals
In addition, several non-grasses are grown for their seeds. These pseudocereals include (in no particular order):
- buckwheat
- amaranth
- quinoa
Cultivation
While each individual species has its own peculiarities, the cultivation of all cereals crops is similar. All are annual plants; consequently one planting yields one harvest. Wheat, rye, triticale, oats, barley, and spelt are the cool-season cereals. These are hardy plants that grow well in moderate weather and cease to grow in hot weather (approximately 30° but this varies by species and variety). The other warm-season cereals are tender and prefer hot weather.
Cool-season cereals are well-adapted to temperate climates. Most varieties of a particular species are either winter or spring types. Winter varities are sown in the autumn, germinate and grow vegetatively, then become dormant during winter. They resume growing in the springtime and mature in late spring or early summer. This cultivation system makes optimal use of water and frees the land for another crop early in the growing season. Winter varieties do not flower until springtime because they require vernalization. Where winters are too warm for vernalization or exceed the hardiness of the crop (which varies by species and variety), farmers grow spring varieties. Spring cereals are planted in early springtime and mature later that same summer, without vernalization. Spring cereals typically require more irrigation and yield less than winter cereals.
Rye is the hardiest cereal, able to overwinter in the subarctic and Siberia. Wheat is the most popular. All cool-season cereals are grown in the tropics, but only in the cool highlands, where it may be possible to grow multiple crops in a year.
The warm-season cereals are grown in tropical lowlands year-round and in temperate climates during the frost-free season.
Food value
Cereal grains supply most of their calories as starch. They are also a significant source of protein, though the amino acid balance is not optimal. Whole grains (see below) are good sources of dietary fiber, essential fatty acids, and other important nutrients.
Rice is eaten as cooked entire grains, although rice flour is also produced. Oats are rolled, ground, or cut into bits (steel-cut oats) and cooked into porridge. Most other cereals are ground into flour or meal, that is milled. The outer layers of bran and germ are removed (see grain (fruit) and seed). This lessens the nutritional value but makes the grain more appealing to many palates. Health-conscious people tend to prefer whole grains, which are not milled. Overconsumption of milled cereals is sometimes blamed for obesity. Milled grains do keep better because the outer layers of the grains are rich in rancidity-prone fats. The waste from milling is sometimes mixed into a prepared animal feed.
Once (optionally) milled and ground, the resulting flour is made into bread, pasta, desserts, dumplings, and many other products. Besides cereals, flour is sometimes made from potatoes and chestnuts.
In American English, cold breakfast cereals and porridge are called simply cereal.
See also: Zadok scale
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Cereal."
Synonyms: CerealSynonyms: cereal grass (n), food grain (n), grain (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Food | Adjective: eatable, edible, esculent, comestible, alimentary; cereal, cibarious; dietetic; culinary; nutritive, nutritious; gastric; succulent; potable, potulent; bibulous. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Gee George, what did you do, get that out of a cereal box (Stuart Little; writing credit: M. Night Shyamalan) Where the real money from the movie is made. Spaceballs: the T-shirt, Spaceballs: the coloring book, Spaceballs: the lunch box, Spaceballs: the breakfast cereal, Spaceballs: the flamethrower--the kids love this one--last but not least, Spaceballs: the doll (Spaceballs; writing credit: Mel Brooks and Ronny Graham.) He thinks its a conspiracy put together by the cereal people (Kalifornia; writing credit: Tim Metcalfe. Starring Brad Pitt as Early Grayce, Juliette Lewis as Adele Corners, David Duchovny as Brian Kessler, and Michelle Forbes as Carrie Laughlin.) Eat your cereal with a fork and do your homework in the dark (Pump Up the Volume; writing credit: Allan Moyle) I've gotta go, I've got my face on a cereal box. (Heist; writing credit: David Mamet) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Cereal Killer (2000) Green Jelly: Cereal Killer (1992) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Shown are 2 bowls of cereal and 2 bran muffins garnished with a strawberry against a black background. These are foods containing grains and fiber. See artwork: PV-44. Credit: Bill Branson (photographer). |  | A breakfast is set up on a blue and white striped tablecloth, including: a yellow bowl of cereal with raspberries, a glass of orange juice and a glass mug of tea. Also on the table are a brightly colored napkin and silverware in the foreground and a folded newspaper in the background. A second slide shows the same objects from a different angle. See also AV-3905. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |
 | (5) color slides show a box of breakfast cereal with a prepared bowl of cereal next to the box. (1) Lucky Charms, (2) Low-Fat Granola, (2) Apple Jacks. Credit: Renee Comet (photographer). |  | (7) color slides show a single bowl of cooked hot cereal, oatmeal. (3) with milk, (2) plain, (2) topped with brown sugar or maple syrup. Credit: Renee Comet (photographer). |
 | From an overhead angle, a blue bowl of cereal and a sandwich on a plate, sitting on a yellow tablecloth, are shown in opposite corners of the frame. A broken muffin lies between them in the center. The red lettering in the upper left reads: "Eat 3-5 generous servings of whole grain breads and cereals every day". Shot on 4x5 format. This was used in the 1989 calendar "Eat for Good Health" May 1989. See artwork: PV-19. Credit: Bill Branson (photographer). |  | A wooden table containing: a ladle full of beans, a sliced loaf of brown bread, a bunch of bananas, muffins, small potatoes, a head of cabbage, an ear of corn, a pile of cereal, yams, apples, a nectarine and some spaghetti. See also AV-3905 and AV-3906. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |
 | Shown is an ad of General Mills' cereal Fiber One. The ad states that eating a well balanced high fiber, low fat diet may reduce the risk of certain types of lower digestive tract cancers, and also recommends a diet with 25-30 grams of dietary fiber a day. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Cereal" by Val Head Commentary: "Close up on a bowl of corn pops." | "Crunch Cereal 4" by Carlos Gustavo Curado Commentary: "Crunch chocolate cereal... it´s my favorite cereal!." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | The greatest amount is found in red meat and iron-fortified bread and cereal. (references) | |
These include vegetables, cereal, grains, beans, peas, and other starchy foods. (references) | ||
Eating high-fiber foods like cereal and bran muffins can help reduce constipation and diarrhea. (references) | ||
Economic History | Sri Lanka | Rice, the staple cereal, is cultivated extensively. (references) |
Saudi Arabia | However, the demand for breakfast cereal is on the rise. (references) | |
Haiti | Haiti cannot produce enough cereal to supply local demand. (references) | |
Political Economy | BRAZIL | For the past several years, Brazil blocked U.S. wheat imports due to several phytosanitary issues related to wheat, including TCK smut, cereal stripe and flag smut. (references) |
ALGERIA | U.S. wheat exports to Algeria dramatically decreased in the first half of 2001, partly as a result of commercial and inspection problems with several wheat shipments in the fall of 2000. There may be new opportunities for U.S. cereals exporters in the future, as the new reorientation of Algerian agriculture will result in more production of traditional crops such as olives and grapes, at the expense of cereal production. (references) | |
Trade | France | Cereal, meat, dairy, sugar, and tobacco continue to have relatively high tariffs and restrictions. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | GUNPOWDER, n. An agency employed by civilized nations for the settlement of disputes which might become troublesome if left unadjusted. By most writers the invention of gunpowder is ascribed to the Chinese, but not upon very convincing evidence. Milton says it was invented by the devil to dispel angels with, and this opinion seems to derive some support from the scarcity of angels. Moreover, it has the hearty concurrence of the Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. Secretary Wilson became interested in gunpowder through an event that occurred on the Government experimental farm in the District of Columbia. One day, several years ago, a rogue imperfectly reverent of the Secretary's profound attainments and personal character presented him with a sack of gunpowder, representing it as the sed of the Flashawful flabbergastor, a Patagonian cereal of great commercial value, admirably adapted to this climate. The good Secretary was instructed to spill it along in a furrow and afterward inhume it with soil. This he at once proceeded to do, and had made a continuous line of it all the way across a ten-acre field, when he was made to look backward by a shout from the generous donor, who at once dropped a lighted match into the furrow at the starting-point. Contact with the earth had somewhat dampened the powder, but the startled functionary saw himself pursued by a tall moving pillar of fire and smoke and fierce evolution. He stood for a moment paralyzed and speechless, then he recollected an engagement and, dropping all, absented himself thence with such surprising celerity that to the eyes of spectators along the route selected he appeared like a long, dim streak prolonging itself with inconceivable rapidity through seven villages, and audibly refusing to be comforted. "Great Scott! what is that?" cried a surveyor's chainman, shading his eyes and gazing at the fading line of agriculturist which bisected his visible horizon. "That," said the surveyor, carelessly glancing at the phenomenon and again centering his attention upon his instrument, "is the Meridian of Washington." H |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Cereal" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.79% of the time. "Cereal" is used about 476 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.79% | 475 | 12,481 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.21% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 476 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "cereal": breakfast cereal ♦ cereal bowl ♦ cereal box ♦ cereal crop ♦ cereal grass ♦ cereal oat ♦ cold cereal ♦ dry cereal ♦ hot cereal. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "cereal": cereal-based, cereal-growing, cereal-importing, cereal-offering, cereal-packet, cereal-producing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
cereal | 567 | cereal fiber one | 50 |
post cereal | 518 | baby cereal | 48 |
cereal trix | 301 | cereal flax seed soy | 44 |
cereal flax soy | 227 | bar cereal company snacks | 43 |
kelloggs cereal | 143 | breakfast cereal importer | 43 |
agriculture breakfast cereal | 136 | life cereal | 43 |
cereal box | 117 | cereal game post | 42 |
cereal charm lucky | 113 | cereal coupon | 42 |
agriculture cereal | 109 | special k cereal | 38 |
general mill cereal | 106 | cereal diet | 38 |
cereal flax granola soy zoe | 100 | kashi cereal | 37 |
cereal zoe | 91 | quaker cereal | 36 |
cereal flax soy zoe | 87 | cereal importer | 35 |
kellogs cereal | 78 | cereal chex | 33 |
cereal honeycomb | 75 | cereal company list | 29 |
kellogg cereal | 67 | cereal bar | 27 |
breakfast cereal | 63 | cereal game | 27 |
breakfast cereal company list | 59 | cereal flax granola soy | 26 |
cereal city | 57 | trivia about cereal | 26 |
cereal total | 57 | cereal dispenser | 25 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "cereal"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | drithi, drithë (corn, grain). (various references) | |
Arabic | من البقوليات, حبوب (grain), حب (attach, like, liking, lose one's heart, love, passion, pip, seed), طعام من حبوب, النبات الحبي. (various references) | |
Asturian | cereal. (various references) | |
Basque | labore. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | зърнен, житно растение (grain, grass), житен (corny, grain, graminaceous, gramineous, wheat, wheaten). (various references) | |
Chinese | 谷物, 穀類 (grain), 禾 (grain). (various references) | |
Czech | obilovina, obilnina (cereal crop, grain crop), obilní. (various references) | |
Danish | kornart. (various references) | |
Dutch | graangewassen, graangewas, graan (grain). (various references) | |
Faeroese | kornslag. (various references) | |
Farsi | گیاهان گندمی , غله (Corn), حبوبات (Grain). (various references) | |
Finnish | viljalaji (variety of grain), viljakasvi. (various references) | |
French | céréale. (various references) | |
Frisian | nôt (grain). (various references) | |
German | Getreide (corn, crop, grain, rick), Getreidepflanze. (various references) | |
Greek | δημητριακό. (various references) | |
Hebrew | דיסה (gruel, mess of pottage, mush, pap, porridge), דגן (corn, grain), דגני. (various references) | |
Hungarian | zabpehely (oat-flakes, oatmeal), liszttermék, gabonapehely, gabonanemű, gabonanövény. (various references) | |
Indonesian | gandum (buckwheat, grain, oat, wheat, wheat flour). (various references) | |
Inuktitut | ulaakutugaq. (various references) | |
Italian | cereale (corn). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 穀類 , 穀物 (corn, grain), 穀物 (corn, grain). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | こくもつ (corn, grain). (various references) | |
Korean | 곡물 (grain, grains). (various references) | |
Manx | grineagh (grained, granular), grine (bread corn, foresight, grain, grapeshot, oat grist, pellet). (various references) | |
Occitan | cereala. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | erealcay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | cereal (corn, corn meal, grain). (various references) | |
Provencal | cereala. (various references) | |
Romanian | cerealier, cereale (cereals, corn, grain), cerealã (grain), pãioase, de cereale (corny). (various references) | |
Romansch | flochets. (various references) | |
Russian | хлебный злак, хлебный (corny), хлебные злак, зерновой (corn, corny). (various references) | |
Samoan | silio. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | cerealija, žito (grain, wheat), žitni, žitna kaša, žitarica (grain). (various references) | |
Spanish | cereal. (various references) | |
Swedish | sädesslag. (various references) | |
Thai | เมล็ดธัญพืช, ธัญพืช. (various references) | |
Turkish | tahıl (cereals, corn, corny, grain), mısır gevreği (cereals, corn flakes, cornflakes), kahvaltılık gevrek (cereals), hububat (cereals). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | хлібний злак, хлібний (corny), вівсянка (oatmeal, porridge), вівсяна каша (flummery, oatmeal, stirabout), зернові (crops), зерновий (corny). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | ezinu. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Cerealis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "cereal": cereals. (additional references) | |
| |
"Cereal" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Caerau, carceral, cardal, carial, carreau, Ceara, Cedrela, Ceea, Cemrel, cerae, ceral, Ceralo, cereale, cerebal, Cerely, ceremal, Cernac, Cernak, cerole, Cerva, Cerveza, cervezas, Cetelem, Chearell, Cherzeel, chevreuil, ciral, corgeal, coryzal, craal, crealy, creeel, creuau, crial, Crrreak, Czermak, Eckersall, erial, Jexreel, Mcgreil, sereal, sereall. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "cereal" (pronounced si"rēul) |
| 6 | s i" r ē u l | serial. |
| 5 | -i" r ē u l | antibacterial, arterial, bacterial, biomaterial, ethereal, immaterial, imperial, managerial, material, venereal. |
| 4 | -r ē u l | industrial, actuarial, adversarial, advertorial, aerial, ambassadorial, arboreal, Ariel, burial, conspiratorial, curatorial, dictatorial, directorial, editorial, endometrial, equatorial, extraterrestrial, extraterritorial, gubernatorial, immemorial, terrestrial, territorial, janitorial, magisterial, malarial, memorial, mercurial, ministerial, nomenclatorial, pictorial, professorial, prosecutorial, raptorial, reportorial, sartorial, secretarial, senatorial, tutorial, vitriol. |
| 3 | -ē u l | adverbial, alluvial, biaxial, bicentennial, biennial, binomial, bronchial, centennial, ceremonial, coaxial, collegial, colloquial, colonial, convivial, custodial, decennial, entrepreneurial, filial, fluvial, testimonial, intracranial, jovial, laryngeal, lineal, marsupial, matrilineal, matrimonial, medial, menial, microbial, millennial, myocardial, parochial, patrilineal, perennial, pluvial, polynomial, primordial, proverbial, pseudopodial, quadrennial, radial, remedial, tracheal, triennial, trivial, vestigial. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: relace. | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-e-l-r" | |
-1 letter: carle, clear, creel, lacer, laree. | |
-2 letters: acre, alec, alee, care, carl, cere, earl, lace, lear, leer, race, rale, real, reel. | |
-3 letters: ace, ale, arc, are, car, cee, cel, ear, eel, era, ere, lac, lar, lea, lee, rec, ree. | |
-4 letters: ae, al, ar, el, er, la, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-e-l-r" | |
+1 letter: cereals, cleaner, cleared, clearer, cleaver, creedal, declare, leacher, percale, reclame, reclean, relaced, relaces, replace, rescale, sclerae, treacle. | |
+2 letters: bleacher, bracelet, calender, cameleer, canceler, careless, celeriac, cellared, cellarer, cellaret, cerebral, cerulean, cervelas, cervelat, clarence, clavered, cleaners, cleanser, clearers, clearest, cleavers, coleader, corelate, crevalle, declared, declarer, declares, decretal, escarole, excretal, lacerate, lackered, larcener, leachers, leachier, mackerel, parceled, percales, praelect, preclean, preclear, preplace, raclette, recalled, recaller, reclames, recleans, recoaled, reliance, relocate, replaced, replacer, replaces, rescaled, rescales, retackle, treacles, ulcerate, vernacle. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
