: a cereal grain that yields a fine white flour used chiefly in breads, baked goods (such as cakes and crackers), and pastas (such as macaroni or spaghetti), and is important in animal feeds
2
: any of various Old World annual grasses (genus Triticum, especially T. aestivum and T. turgidum) of wide climatic adaptability that are cultivated in most temperate areas for the wheat they yield
3
: a light yellow
Example Sentences
a turkey sandwich on wheat
Recent Examples on the WebThe World Food Program has chartered three separate ships for humanitarian deliveries of wheat. Jared Malsin, WSJ, 14 Sep. 2022 To make: Bundle a small handful of wheat and tie with twine. Charlyne Mattox, Country Living, 14 Sep. 2022 The cost of wheat has fallen back sharply after spiking to an all-time high in March, as investors cheered a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to restart exports of grain from key Ukrainian ports. Julia Horowitz, CNN, 24 Aug. 2022 The ship had departed Friday from Chornomorsk, Ukraine with more than 3,300 tons of wheat. Reis Thebault, Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2022 Two more ships left Black Sea ports Friday under the deal, one of them carrying 3,000 metric tons of wheat, according to the Defense Ministry in Turkey, which helped broker the deal with U.N. help. Ellen Francis And Katerina Ang, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Aug. 2022 O'odham and Pee Posh farms produced more than 1 million pounds of wheat in 1862 alone, according to the tribe's website.AZCentral.com, 8 Aug. 2022 In 2020, Russia and Ukraine were the world's first- and fifth-largest exporters of wheat, respectively. Grayson Quay, The Week, 1 Aug. 2022 Over the 2021-2022 marketing year, Russia exported about 30 million tons of wheat, according to Refinitiv trade flows. Aya Batrawy, ajc, 27 July 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English whete, going back to Old English hwǣte, going back to Germanic *hwaitja- (whence also Old Frisian wēt "wheat," Old Saxon hwēti, Middle Dutch weit, weite, Old High German hweizi, weizi, Old Icelandic hveiti, Gothic ƕaiteis "cereal grain"), collective derivative from the stem of *hwīta-white entry 1; probably so called from the light color of the ripe ears or the flour made from it
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Time Traveler
The first known use of wheat was before the 12th century