eat [OE] For such a fundamental concept, it is unsurprising that eat is an Old English word, with an ancient root shared by Latin edere ‘to eat’. This is the source not only of edible [L16th], but also comestible [LME] ‘something edible’, edacious [E19th], a rare word for ‘greedy’, and obese [M17th] from obedere ‘eat completely’. There are many phrases associated with eating. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die, in use by the 19th century, is a combination of two biblical sayings, ‘A man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat and to drink, and to be merry’ (Ecclesiastes) and ‘Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die’ (Isaiah). You are what you eat is a proverb that first appeared in English in the 1920s. It is a translation of the German phrase Der Mensch ist, was er isst, ‘Man is what he eats’, which was said by the philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–72). Forms of eat your heart out have been around since the mid 16th century, the first example translating a similar idea from classical Greek. See also fret.