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What is the English word used for describing the 'breaking the fast' in the month of Ramadan ?

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5  
You're not really asking for an English word, are you? – Robusto Aug 1 '11 at 10:09
2  
This has nothing to do with English. – Joe Blow Aug 1 '11 at 10:17
Out of idle curiosity... there another separate name for the first daytime meal after Ramadan ends: Eid ul-Fitr or something, right? I don't suppose that's what you were asking about? I had the misfortune of deciding to go to a buffet on that day one year. Huge crowd. – T.E.D. Aug 1 '11 at 12:40
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@Robusto: there -could- be a purely English term for it, and the OP doesn't know if there is one or not. – Mitch Aug 1 '11 at 12:58

4 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

The proper word would be:

Iftar: Muslims all around the world will abstain from food and drink, through fasting, from dawn to sunset. At sunset, the family will gather the fast-breaking meal known as Iftar.

The term in English however, would be "breakfast." Although the term is not commonly used in this fashion, "breakfast" has the meaning of breaking your nightly fast, and in the same way, can be used to mean breaking a longer fast. Webster's dictionary gives:

A meal after fasting.

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Yea. I browsed the link before asking here. I think, Iftar is an Arabic word rather than English. Can I call it as 'fast-breaking meal', but it is not a single word. What you think ? – Rauf Aug 1 '11 at 10:17
Last time, the term "break-fast" was also used for breaking a fast. I think, if you used, "break-fast", it would be fine. – Thursagen Aug 1 '11 at 10:18
Will the people get confuse between 'breakfast' and 'break-fast' – Rauf Aug 1 '11 at 10:27
Not if you explain. Say something like, "I am going to have my breakfast, that is, I am going to break my fast." – Thursagen Aug 1 '11 at 10:30
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FWIW, Jews understand "break-fast" for the meal at the end of Yom Kippur (and other fast days) and I've never heard it called anything else. Pronounce it "break-fast", with the long vowel, not the usual "brekfast" pronunciation (sorry I don't know IPA). – Monica Cellio Aug 1 '11 at 14:45
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up vote 5 down vote

On Google I found some instances of "Ramadan breakfast".

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up vote 4 down vote

Iftar is how you say it in English, as straight a borrowing as possible, with no translation. 'Breakfast', though it literally means breaking a fast, refers to the daily morning meal and is not used to replace 'iftar'. One might say during Iftar that one is breaking a fast but never that the event -is- 'breakfast'.

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up vote 3 down vote

Actually people use fast-breaking or breaking a fast for the same, but the most common used word is iftar which is an Arabic word with two meanings: fast breaking meal and breaking a fast.

The party given at the time of fast-breaking is known as Iftar-Party.

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