A late-morning meal or snack eaten in Spanish-speaking countries, or a light midday meal that comes before dinner.
From Spanish 'almuerzo,' derived from Arabic 'al-morsa' or 'al-moraza' (a meal). The word entered Spanish during medieval Islamic occupation of the Iberian Peninsula.
The almuerzo reveals how languages preserve eating schedules—it's a word without an English equivalent because English speakers traditionally ate breakfast-lunch-dinner, while Spanish cultures developed a different rhythm inherited from Moorish times.
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