coffee
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- coffée (rare)
Etymology[edit]
From Dutch koffie (“coffee”), from Italian caffè (“coffee”), from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve, “coffee”), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa, “coffee, a brew”).[1][2] The Arabic word originally referred to wine, a drink which was traditionally mixed and served hot in a similar manner. In Arabic "to brew" utilizes the same triliteral root as wine and intoxicant; see خ م ر (ḵ-m-r) "to cover over", presumably with hot water. Other sources instead claim it traces back to the name of the Kaffa region of Ethiopia, which is an Omotic word. Doublet of café and caffè and cognate with the words for "coffee" in other major European languages, most of which are derived from the Turkish and Italian words.[2]
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɒ.fi/
- (Conservative RP, dated) IPA(key): /ˈkɔː.fɪ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɔ.fi/
- (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈkɑ.fi/
- Homophone: coughy
- Rhymes: -ɒfi, -ɔːfi
Audio (UK) (file) Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: cof‧fee
Noun[edit]
coffee (countable and uncountable, plural coffees) [from 1598] [2]
- (uncountable) A beverage made by infusing the beans of the coffee plant in hot water.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970, partition II, section 5, member 1, subsection v:
- The Turks have a drink called coffa (for they use no wine), so named of a berry as black as soot, and as bitter […], which they sip still of, and sup as warm as they can suffer […].
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IV, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
- "He was here," observed Drina composedly, "and father was angry with him." ¶ "What?" exclaimed Eileen. "When?" ¶ "This morning, before father went downtown." ¶ Both Selwyn and Lansing cut in coolly, dismissing the matter with a careless word or two; and coffee was served—cambric tea in Drina's case.
- 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
- […] a new study of how Starbucks has largely avoided paying tax in Britain […] shows that current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: […]. In Starbucks’s case, the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.
- (countable) A serving of this beverage.
- 2008, Agnes Poirier, The Guardian, 12 April:
- As I sip a coffee at Brasserie Balzar, two well-known intellectuals, one publisher and a Sorbonne professor were discussing Sarkozy's future: "He won't finish his mandate" says one.
- 2008, Agnes Poirier, The Guardian, 12 April:
- The seeds of the plant used to make coffee, misnamed ‘beans’ due to their shape.
- The powder made by roasting and grinding the seeds.
- A tropical plant of the genus Coffea.
- A pale brown colour, like that of milk coffee.
- coffee:
- The end of a meal, when coffee is served.
- He did not stay for coffee.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
- black coffee
- coffee and cake
- coffee bag
- coffee bar
- coffee bean
- coffee break
- coffee cake
- coffee cup
- coffee essence
- coffee grinder
- coffeehouse
- coffee klatch
- coffee machine
- coffee maker
- coffee mill
- coffee morning
- coffee pod
- coffee pot
- coffee room
- coffee royal
- coffee rust
- coffee senna
- coffee shop
- coffee spoon
- coffee table
- coffee table book
- coffee talk
- coffeetini
- coffee tree
- dalgona coffee
- drip coffee
- filter coffee
- Gaelic coffee
- iced coffee
- instant coffee
- Irish coffee
- Kentucky coffee tree
- that and a nickel will buy you a cup of coffee
- Turkish coffee
- wake up and smell the coffee
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- Tok Pisin: kopi
- → Burmese: ကော်ဖီ (kauhpi)
- → Rawang: gopi
- → Mon: ကဝ်ဖှဳ
- → Gujarati: કૉફી (kɔphī)
- → Hausa: kṑfī
- → Hindi: कॉफ़ी (kŏfī), काफ़ी (kāfī), कोफ़ी (kofī)
- → Sanskrit: काफी (kāphī)
- → Korean: 커피 (keopi)
- → Maia: kopi
- → Marathi: काफी (kāphī)
- → Marshallese: ko̧pe
- → Navajo: gohwééh
- → Scottish Gaelic: cofaidh
- → Welsh: coffi
Translations[edit]
Adjective[edit]
coffee (not comparable)
- Of a pale brown colour, like that of milk coffee.
- Of a table: a small, low table suitable for people in lounge seating to put coffee cups on.
Translations[edit]
Verb[edit]
coffee (third-person singular simple present coffees, present participle coffeeing, simple past and past participle coffeed)
- (intransitive) To drink coffee.
- 1839, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Clockmaker:
- I rushed into my cabin, coffeed, wined, and went to bed sobbing.
- 2010, Patrick Day, Too Late in the Afternoon: One Man's Triumph Over Depression:
- It was exactly 11 a.m. We had been coffeeing for one hour, and our coffee cups were empty.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “coffee”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 “coffee, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2021.
Further reading[edit]
- English terms borrowed from Dutch
- English terms derived from Dutch
- English terms derived from Italian
- English terms derived from Ottoman Turkish
- English terms derived from Arabic
- English terms derived from Omotic languages
- English doublets
- English terms derived from the Arabic root ق ه ي
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with homophones
- Rhymes:English/ɒfi
- Rhymes:English/ɒfi/2 syllables
- Rhymes:English/ɔːfi
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Browns
- en:Coffee
- en:Colors
- en:Madder family plants