café
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French café (“coffee; coffee shop”). Doublet of caffè and coffee.
Pronunciation
Noun
café (plural cafés)
- A coffee shop; an establishment selling coffee and sometimes other non-alcoholic beverages, simple meals or snacks, with a facility to consume them on the premises.
- (Canada) A small restaurant of any genre.
- 1982, Joni Mitchell (lyrics and music), “Chinese Café / Unchained Melody”:
Synonyms
- (coffee shop): caff (British slang), coffeehouse, coffee shop, tea shop
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
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See also
Asturian
Catalan
Pronunciation
Audio (Valencian) (file)
Danish
Declension
Derived terms
Dutch
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French café, from Italian caffè, from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa, “coffee”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kaːˈfeː/
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: ca‧fé
- Rhymes: -eː
Noun
café n (plural cafés, diminutive cafeetje n)
- café; coffee shop
- Synonym: koffiehuis
- pub, bar
- Synonyms: kroeg, biercafé
- snackbar
- Synonym: eetcafé
Derived terms
- biercafé
- biljartcafé
- bruin café
- cafébezoeker
- caféhouder
- eetcafé
- grand café
- huiskamercafé
- internetcafé
- poolcafé
- stamcafé
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian caffè, first appearing as the form caveé[1], from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve) (Turkish kahve), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa, “coffee”). Doublet of caoua.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ka.fe/
Standard French (file) Belgium (file) Central France (file) West France (file) Quebec (file)
Noun
café m (usually uncountable, plural cafés)
- coffee (drink)
- Synonyms: caoua, noir, petit noir
- Hypernym: boisson
- Hyponyms: bistouille, café arrosé, café au lait, café-calva, café-chicorée, café chocolaté, café crème, café filtre, café frappé, café-lambig, café turc, cappuccino, décaféiné, expresso, macchiato, ristretto
- coffee colour
- public house
- cafe, coffee shop
Derived terms
- café allongé
- café arrosé
- café au lait
- café chocolaté
- café complet
- café crème
- café du commerce
- café filtre
- café frappé
- café glacé
- café instantané
- café liégeois
- café noir
- café soluble
- café turc
- café-bar
- café-calva
- café-chicorée
- café-concert
- café-lambig
- café-théatre
- caféiculteur
- caféiculture
- caféier
- caféière
- caféine
- caféique
- caféisme
- caféone
- caféterie
- cafetier
- cafetière
- cuiller à café
- cuillère à café
- fort de café
- garçon de café
- machine à café
- marc de café
- moulin à café
- pause-café
- pousse-café
Related terms
- cafèt’
- cafétéria
- décaféination
- décaféiner
Descendants
- Borrowings
- → Albanian: kafeja
- → Alemannic German: Kaafe
- → Arabic: كَافِيه (kāfē)
- Gulf Arabic: كافيه (kāfē)
- → Asturian: café
- → Bulgarian: кафе́ (kafé)
- → Cantonese: 咖啡 (gaa3 fe1)
- Taishanese: 咖啡 (ga1 fie2)
- → Coeur d'Alene: lkaapi
- → Crimean Tatar: kafe
- → Danish: café
- → English: café
- → German: Café (“café”)
- → German: Kaffee (“coffee”)
- → Norwegian Bokmål: kaffe
- → Dutch: café
- → Hebrew: קָפֶה (kafé)
- → Khmer: កាហ្វេ (kaafee)
- → Kumak: kafe
- → Lao: ກາເຟ (kā fē)
- → Luxembourgish: Café
- → Mandarin: 咖啡 (kāfēi)
- → Norman: café
- → Norwegian Nynorsk: kaffi
- → Nzadi: kafɛ
- → Ojibwe: aapii
- → Russian: кафе́ (kafé)
- → Persian:
- Iranian Persian: کافه (kāfe)
- → Portuguese: café, cafè
- Kadiwéu: gaape
- → Serbo-Croatian: kafić
- → Spanish: café
- → Swedish: café
- → Thai: กาแฟ (gaa-fɛɛ)
- → West Uvean: kafe
- → Vietnamese: cà phê
References
- Etymology and history of “cafe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Further reading
- “café”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Galician
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kɐˈfɛ/
Noun
café m (plural cafés)
- coffee
- O día estaba frío, e despois de xantar os convidados dixeron que non lles sentaría nada mal un café.
- It was a cold day, and after lunch the guests decided to have a coffee.
- coffee bean
- coffee plant
- cafeteria
Synonyms
- (coffee plant): cafeeira
Related terms
Further reading
- “café” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.
Norman
Related terms
- caf'tchiéthe (“coffee pot”)
Polish

Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kaˈfɛ/
- Rhymes: -afɛ
- Syllabification: ca‧fé
Noun
café n (indeclinable)
- café, coffee shop (establishment selling coffee and sometimes other non-alcoholic beverages, simple meals or snacks, with a facility to consume them on the premises)
- Synonym: kawiarnia
Further reading
- café in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Portuguese
Alternative forms
- cafè (obsolete)
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French café, from Italian caffè, from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve) (Turkish kahve), from Classical Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa, “coffee”).
Pronunciation
Audio (BR) (file)
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /kaˈfɛ/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /kɐˈfɛ/
- Rhymes: -ɛ
- Hyphenation: ca‧fé
Audio (Brazil) (file)
Noun
café m (plural cafés)
- coffee
- O café é uma das bebidas mais consumidas no mundo.
- Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world.
- a café, an establishment selling coffee and other beverages, alcoholic or not, simple meals or snacks, with a facility to consume them on the premises
- Nós nos conhecemos em um café.
- We met in a café.
- (Brazil) Ellipsis of café da manhã (“breakfast”).
- Saí tão depressa de casa que até esqueci de tomar café.
- I left home so hurriedly that I even forgot to have breakfast.
Descendants
- Kadiwéu: gaape
Spanish

Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French café, from Italian caffè, from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve) (Turkish kahve), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa, “coffee”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kaˈfe/ [kaˈfe]
Audio (Bolivia): (file) Audio (Colombia): (file) - Rhymes: -e
- Syllabification: ca‧fé
Derived terms
- café a la turca
- café con leche
- café con piernas
- café concierto
- café de civeta
- café helado
- café irlandés
- café para todos
- café solo
- café turco
- cafeína
- cafelito
- cafetal
- cafetera
- cafetería
- cafetero
- cafeto
- (augmentatives) cafetón
- descafeinado
- (diminutives) cafecito, cafelito
- máquina de café (“coffee machine, coffee maker”)
- molinillo de café
- molino de café
Descendants
Further reading
- “café”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
Swedish
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kaˈfeː/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -eː
Usage notes
The definite singular form can also be cafét/caféts.
Declension
| Declension of café | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | café | caféet | caféer | caféerna |
| Genitive | cafés | caféets | caféers | caféernas |