chleb

See also: chléb and chlěb

English

Etymology

From Polish chleb. Doublet of khleb and loaf.

Noun

chleb (uncountable)

1. (rare) Polish bread.
   • 1997, Noëlle Janaczewska, “Historia”, in Peta Tait, Elizabeth Schafer, editors, Australian Women’s Drama: Texts and Feminisms (Currency Plays), Sydney, N.S.W.: Currency Press, →ISBN, page 280:

     Upstairs at the Polish Club / Among plastic palms and gossip, / While Wujiu Jerzy / Sells kielbasy and chleb—[…]

   • 2000, Tarisa Ann M. Matsumoto, “Zoltan’s Food”, in Shadowgraph and Zoltan’s Food‎^[1], Ames, Ia.: Iowa State University, →DOI, →OCLC, section “Advent of Red”, page 55:

     […] dough for the chleb beaten down with imprints of her fists and knuckles […] the moist ferment staring at her in anticipation of being molded baked buttered into something fantastic succulent artistic slices of chleb […]

   • 2004, Helen McCourt Mentek, “The Wheel of Life”, in Ripples on a Puddle: A Collection of Short Stories, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 228:

     Mountains of chleb teetered on plates.

   • 2008, Polly Courtney, chapter 15, in Poles Apart, Leicester: Matador, →ISBN, page 81:

     In the safety of her bedroom, with a litre of water and a slice of chleb inside her, things felt better again.

   • 2016 July 7, Michel Faber, “Since You Last Visited Sopot”, in Undying: A Love Story, Edinburgh: Canongate Books, →ISBN:

     The diner where the soup was almost free (three zloty, with chleb and margarine) has closed, dumping its coarse clientele into history.

Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *xlěbъ, from Proto-Germanic *hlaibaz. Compare Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃 (hlaifs), English loaf, German Laib, Faroese leivur, Latvian klaips, and Finnish leipä.

Noun

chleb m inan (diminutive chlebek or chlebuś)

1. bread

   kromka chleba ― a slice of bread

   bochenek chleba ― a loaf of bread

   chleb razowy ― whole-meal bread

2. (figuratively) work, job

Declension

Declension of chleb

	singular	plural
nominative	chleb	chleby
genitive	chleba	chlebów
dative	chlebowi	chlebom
accusative	chleb	chleby
instrumental	chlebem	chlebami
locative	chlebie	chlebach
vocative	chlebie	chleby

Derived terms

adjectives

• chlebny
• chlebowy

 

adverb

• chlebno

 

nouns

• chlebaczek
• chlebak
• chlebodawca
• chlebodawczyni

 

phrase

• głodnemu chleb na myśli

 

verbs

• pochlebiać
• pochlebić
• schlebiać
• schlebić

 

Related terms

noun

• chleb baltonowski

 

Descendants

• → English: chleb

Further reading

• chleb in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• chleb in Polish dictionaries at PWN