Loafs or loaves

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Grammarist

Loafs and loaves are two words that are close in spelling and pronunciation and may be considered confusables. We will examine the different meanings of the confusables loafs and loaves, the word origins of the terms, and some examples of their English usage in sentences.

Loafs is the third-person present form of the verb, loaf. Loaf means to be lazy, indolent, or idle. Related words are loafed, loafing. The verb loaf came into use in the 1830s and is a back-formation of the noun, loafer, meaning a lazy person. The word loafer is derived from the German word, Landlaufer, which means vagabond.

Loaves is the plural form of loaf, which is a unit of bread. Loaves may be whole or sliced. Loaves is one of a group of nouns that end in “f” and are made plural by changing the “f” to “v.” This dates back to how words were pronounced in Old English; an “f” that occurred between two vowels was pronounced as a “v.”

Examples

This retired luchador may not look like much initially – he limps, he loafs, he grumbles – but he’s an important character from the source material, the bestselling trilogy on which the show is based. (Baltimore Sun)

The heart of the film is taken up with the two brothers getting to know their charismatic but never-do-well father as he loafs around drinking and smoking doobies with his buddies while he has Boy digging holes looking for his loot. (Hollywood Reporter)

You could say that I’m even a little bit addicted to them – I even bake on weeks when my family doesn’t need seven loaves of challa. (Jerusalem Post)

But if you’re several loaves in and have decided baking might be more than just a passing COVID-era distraction, it might be time to level-up your bread making tools. (Bon Appetit Magazine)