buffet

See also Buffet

English

Etymology 1

French, of unknown origin; compare Italian buffetto; perhaps related to the noun under Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: bo͝o'fā, bŭ'fā; IPA: /ˈbʊfeɪ/, /ˈbʌfeɪ/; SAMPA: /"bUfeI/, /"bVfeI/
• (US) enPR: bəfā', IPA: /bəˈfeɪ/, SAMPA: /b@"feI/

Noun

buffet (plural buffets)

1. A counter or sideboard from which food and drinks are served or may be bought.
2. Food laid out in this way, to which diners serve themselves.

Synonyms

• (food): buffet meal, smorgasbord

Translations

a counter or sideboard from which food and drink are served or may be bought

Bulgarian: бюфет (bg) m. Finnish: tarjoiluhuone (fi), seisovatarjoilu (fi) Japanese: ビュッフェ (ja) (byuffe) Korean: 뷔페 (ko) (bwipe)

Latin: abacus (la) m. Russian: буфет (ru) (bufét) m. Swedish: buffé (sv) c. Thai: บุฟเฟ่ต์ (th) (bùf-fây)

food laid out in this way, to which diners serve themselves

Bulgarian: бюфет (bg) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 自助餐 (cmn) (zìzhùcān)

Estonian: rootsi laud (et) Finnish: tarjoilupöytä (fi), seisovapöytä (fi), noutopöytä (fi) Swedish: buffé (sv) c.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Serbo-Croatian: bife (hr) m. Esperanto: bufedo (eo) German: Buffet (de) n.

Icelandic: hlaðborð (is) n. Norwegian: buffé (no) m., buffet (no) m.

Etymology 2

Old French buffet, diminutive of buffe; see buffer, buffoon, and compare German puffen, to jostle, to hustle

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: bŭ'fĭt, IPA: /ˈbʌfɪt/, SAMPA: /"bVfIt/
• (US) enPR: bŭ'fət, IPA: /ˈbʌfət/, SAMPA: /"bVf@t/

Noun

buffet (plural buffets)

1. A blow or cuff with or as if with the hand, or by any other solid object or the wind.
   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII and XIV:

     The still summer air was disturbed by a sound like beer coming out of a bottle. It was Pop Glossop gurgling. His eyes were round, his nose wiggled, and one could readily discern that this news item had come to him not as rare and refreshing fruit but more like a buffet on the base of the skull with a sock full of wet sand. [...] There was silence for some moments, broken only by the sound of an aunt saying “Lord love a duck!” Kipper stood blinking, as I had sometimes seen him do at the boxing tourneys in which he indulged when in receipt of a shrewd buffet on some tender spot like the tip of the nose.

Synonyms

• (blow): blow, collision (by any solid object), cuff (with the hand)

Verb

buffet (third-person singular simple present buffets, present participle buffeting, simple past and past participle buffeted)

1. (transitive) To strike or blow with a buffet or buffets.

Etymology 3

Old French, of unknown origin.

Noun

buffet (plural buffets)

1. A low stool; a hassock.

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French

Etymology

Origin uncertain.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /byfɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

buffet m. (plural buffets)

1. sideboard, dresser
2. (food) buffet

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Italian

Noun

buffet m. inv.

1. sideboard (furniture)
2. buffet, refreshment bar

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Norwegian

Alternative forms

• buffé

Etymology

French, from Medieval Latin bufetum

Noun

buffet (m)

1. sideboard; dining room furniture containing table linen and services
2. buffet, refreshment bar

Inflection

    Inflection of buffet

	indefinite singular	definite singular	indefinite plural	definite plural
Bokmål m	buffet	buffeten	buffeter	buffetene
Nynorsk m	buffet	buffeten	buffetar	buffetane