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{{Short description|Type of Indian breakfast}}
{{Other uses|Tiffin (disambiguation)}}{{Meals}}

'''Tiffin''' is a [[South Asian English]] word for a type of meal. It refers to a light breakfast or a light tea-time meal at about 3&nbsp;p.m.,  consisting of typical tea-time foods.<ref name="Telugu Usage">{{cite web|last1=Purnachand|first1=G V|title=History of Traditional Telugu Food Culture: A new interpretation|url=https://drgvpurnachand.blogspot.in/2012/10/history-of-traditional-telugu-food_1.html|website=Dr. G. V. Purnachand, B.A.M.S.|date=October 2012|publisher=Dr. G V Purnachand, B.A.M.S.|access-date=28 July 2017|archive-date=29 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729091239/https://drgvpurnachand.blogspot.in/2012/10/history-of-traditional-telugu-food_1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In certain parts of India, it can also refer to the midday [[luncheon]] or, in some regions of the [[Indian subcontinent]], a between-meal [[snack]].{{sfn|OED staff|2013|loc="tiffin, n."}} When used in place of the word "lunch", however, it does not necessarily mean a light meal.{{sfn|Murray|2008|p=88}}

==Etymology==
In the [[British Raj]], tiffin was used to denote the British custom of [[Tea (meal)|afternoon tea]] that had been supplanted by the Indian practice of having a light meal at that hour.{{sfn|Quinion|2006|loc=Tiffin}} It is derived from "tiffing", an English colloquial term meaning to take a little drink. By 1867 it had become naturalised among [[Anglo-Indian]]s in northern British India to mean luncheon.<ref>{{harvnb|OED staff|2013|loc="tiffin, n."}}cites H. Wedgwood (1862) "''Tiffin'', now naturalised among Anglo-Indians in the sense of luncheon, is the North country tiffing (properly sipping)". See also {{harvnb|Wedgwood|1872|p=682}}.</ref>

==Current usage==
[[File:Mumbai Dabbawala or Tiffin Wallahs- 200,000 Tiffin Boxes Delivered Per Day.jpg|thumb|left|Two [[dabbawala]]s in [[Mumbai]] delivering meals packed in [[tiffin carrier]]s]]
In [[South India]] and in Nepal, tiffin is generally a snack between meals: [[Dosa (food)|dosa]]s, [[idli]]s, [[vada (food)|vada]]s etc.{{sfn|Hughes|Mookherjee|Delacy|2001|p=25}} In other parts of India, such as [[Mumbai]], the word mostly refers to a [[packed lunch]] of some sort.{{sfn|Harding|2002}} In Mumbai, it is often delivered to them by [[dabbawala]]s, sometimes known as ''tiffin [[wallah]]s'', who use a complex system to get thousands of [[tiffin carrier]]s to their destinations. In most of India, a school-going child's lunch box is fondly called a tiffin box.{{sfn|Thakker|2005}} It is also used heavily in Pakistan where people use tiffin boxes in places like offices, schools or during picnic. This practice is also common in India.

When used in place of the word "lunch", tiffin often consists of rice, [[lentils]], [[curry]], vegetables, [[chapati]]s or "spicy meats".{{sfn|Murray|2008|pp=85–108}} In addition, the [[lunch box]]es are themselves called [[tiffin carrier]]s, tiffin-boxes or just tiffins.

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==See also==
{{portal|Food|India}}
* ''[[Bento]]''
* ''[[Dosirak]]''
* [[Lunchbox]]
* [[Tiffin carrier]]
* [[Tiffin (confectionery)]]

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== Notes ==
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{{reflist}}

==References==
{{Wiktionary|tiffin}}
*{{Citation|last=Harding |first=Luke |date=29 October 2002 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4447391,00.html |title=A Bombay lunchbox |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]}}
*{{Citation |last1=Hughes |first1=Martin |last2=Mookherjee | first2=Sheema |last3=Delacy |first3=Richard | year=2001 | title=India |edition=illustrated | publisher=Lonely Planet | isbn=978-1-86450-328-9 | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=XWXGIQG5fMMC&pg=PA25 25]}}
*{{Citation |last=Murray |first=Sarah  |year=2008 |title=Moveable Feasts: From Ancient Rome to the 21st Century, the Incredible Journeys of the Food We Eat |edition=illustrated | publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-42814-3 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=HqcwO2JfNsAC&pg=PA85 85]–108}}
*{{Citation|author=OED staff |year=2013 |title=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |chapter=tiffin, n. |chapter-url=http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/201890 |edition=online |publisher=[[Oxford University]]}}
*{{Citation |last=Quinion |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Quinion |date=2 September 2006 |orig-year=2003
|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-tif1.htm |title=World Wide Words: Tiffin |publisher=worldwidewords.org}}
*{{Citation |last=Thakker |first=Pradip |date=11 November 2005 |url=http://www.sixsigmainstitute.com/news/sixsigma/2005/11/mumbais-amazing-dabbawalas.html |title=Bombay's amazing dabbawalas  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080209025804/http://www.sixsigmainstitute.com/news/sixsigma/2005/11/mumbais-amazing-dabbawalas.html | archive-date=9 February 2008}}
*{{Citation |last=Wedgwood |first=H. |year=1872 |title=A Dictionary of English Etymology |edition=second|page=[https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofengl00wedgrich#page/682/mode/1up 682]}}

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[[Category:Meals]]
[[Category:Indian cuisine]]
[[Category:Indian English idioms]]
[[Category:Indian slang]]