Word.ws English Dictionary

burn bread

burn bread verb: to cause something unfortunate to happen to (someone) by mentioning it; to jinx something for (someone).

Verb

burn bread (third-person singular simple present burns bread, present participle burning bread, simple past and past participle burned bread or burnt bread)

  1. (idiomatic, often, African-American Vernacular) To cause something unfortunate to happen to (someone) by mentioning it; to jinx something for (someone).
    • I don't mean to burn bread on the guy, but if LaT cares to press it, he could be living in a dumpster before he gets too much older.2002 September 14, Chas, “Re: Information on John La Tourrette”, in rec.martial-arts (Usenet)
    • “Si, I'll set up the meeting. I want you plugged in with the Cubans. Just in case something was to ever happen to me.”
      Rico shot his brother a scornful. “Listen, I got no problem wit' none a dat shit you talking, but I ain't trying' hear dat' just in case something happen' to you bullshit … you...2006, Tha Twinz, Crime Pays?: The First of a Trilogy, Bronx, NY: Twinz Publishing, →ISBN, page 113

Forms of burn bread

third-person singular presentburns bread
present participleburning bread
past participleburned bread
pastburned bread
past participleburnt bread
pastburnt bread

Origin of burn bread

From the idea that burning bread brings bad luck or is indicative of unfortunate things to come.

Questions about burn bread

What does burn bread mean?
Burn bread means to cause something unfortunate to happen to (someone) by mentioning it; to jinx something for (someone).
What part of speech is burn bread?
Burn bread is a verb.
What is the past tense of burn bread?
The past tense of burn bread is burned bread.

Words near burn bread in the dictionary

  1. burn bags
  2. burn barrel
  3. burn barrels
  4. burn book
  5. burn books
  6. burn bread
  7. Burn Bridge
  8. burn building
  9. burn buildings
  10. burn center
  11. burn centers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: burn bread (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-burn bread.wav.

Cite this entry: “burn bread.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/burn_bread. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.