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The Spanish word merienda is often included in lists of untranslatable words. It originally meant the meal you had around noon between breakfast and dinner, as that meal used to be small compared with the other two. In some parts it is still used with that sense but since the 17th century it is almost always used for the small meal you have between lunch and dinner.

In Spain you usually have lunch around 2:00 PM and dinner around 9:00 PM, so at around 5:30 you need a small meal if you do not want to starve. That small meal is our merienda.

I would like to know if there are or there have been words in English to refer to a similar small meal you have between the main meals. I have looked up the word even in old dictionaries, but I think the translations refer to the old meaning of the word:

• The Spanish-English dictionary by Richard Percyvall from 1591 translates the word as noonemeate (currently noonmeat), but that seems to be a synonym for lunch.


• The Spanish-Latin-English dictionary by Iohannis Minshaei from 1617 translates the word as a Bever. That word is not present in the Oxford dictionary but seems to be related to beverage. Etymonline says its meaning could be "a drinking bout".


• The closest word I can think of is US English snack: "a small amount of food eaten between meals" or "a light meal that is eaten in a hurry or in a casual manner".

So among every word the English language has produced everywhere and at every time, old and new, known or unknown, what would be the closest one to Spanish merienda?

I think your question contains its answer: snack is both AE and BE, and the first example sentence reported by the Oxford Dictionary is

not many people make it through to the evening meal without a snack

which seems to reflect your definition quite perfectly: "at around 5:30 you need a small meal if you do not want to starve"

I was surprised not to see tea in the answers until I saw it in the very first comment by J. Taylor.

Also, consider high tea though not a single word.

MW:

tea noun
4a : refreshments usually including tea with sandwiches, crackers, or cookies served in late afternoon

ODO:

tea
NOUN
3 [British] A light afternoon meal consisting typically of tea to drink, sandwiches, and cakes.

‘they were about to take afternoon tea’

[count noun] ‘picnic teas’

3.1 A cooked evening meal.

‘fish and chips for tea’

[count noun] ‘it reminds me of Sunday teas when I was a very small
child’

high tea
NOUN [British]

A meal eaten in the late afternoon or early evening, typically consisting of a cooked dish, bread and butter, and
tea.

‘you sat down and had high tea’

Well, supper, for one. I believe it fits the context quite well.

Merriam Webster:

supper noun

sup·​per | ˈsə-pər

Definitions:

1a: the evening meal especially when dinner is taken at midday

b : a social affair featuring a supper
especially: an evening social especially for raising funds

a church supper

2: the food served as a supper

'eat your supper'

3: a light meal served late in the evening

Oxford:

An evening meal, typically a light or informal one.

e.g.: ‘we had a delicious cold supper’

After having lived in Spain for the last 14 year or so, I would classify it as rather an "early evening snack". I don't think it should be considered as afternoon tea or snack, barely on the fact, it is too late to call it afternoon! However, I will add that the"merienda" as such can be something sweet or savoury.

There are small meals between lunch and dinner, these are called "Dunch" which is a combination of Lunch and Dinner. (It can also be called "Linner")

If you eat a meal between breakfast and lunch it is called brunch, which is more well known.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/dunch
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/submission/545/linner