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A 'café' (also spelled 'cafe', IPA: or ) is a type of cafeteria, often with an enclosed or outdoor section extending onto the pavement or sidewalk, where food and drink are served. Generally serving coffee and other beverages, cafés (or more commonly known as cafeterias) also serve meals but this is generally not considered their main trade (in contrast to a restaurant).
The term can also refer to a coffeehouse, tea room, lunchroom, bistro or a room in a hotel or restaurant where coffee and liquors are served. In the Netherlands, a ''café'' is an establishment selling liquor, as opposed a coffeeshop, which sells soft drugs (cannabis) and is typically not allowed to sell liquor.

Contents

Etymology, spelling, and pronunciation of ''café''

See also

References

Etymology, spelling, and pronunciation of ''café''

The most common English spelling, ''café'', is the French spelling, and was adopted by English-speaking countries in the late 19th century.^[1] As English generally makes little use of diacritical marks, anglicisation involves a natural tendency to forgo them, and the anglicized spelling ''cafe'' has thus become very common in English-language usage throughout the world (although orthographic often disapprove of it). The Italian spelling, ''caffè'', is also sometimes used in English.^[2]. In southern England, especially around London in the 1950s, the French pronunciation was often shortened to and spelt ''caff'' ^[3].
The English words ''coffee'' and ''café'' both descend from the continental European word root /kafe/, which appears in many European languages with various naturalized spellings, including Italian (''caffè''); Spanish (''café''); French (''café''); German (''Kaffee''); and others. European awareness of coffee (the plant, its seeds, the beverage made from the seeds, and the shops that sell the beverage) came through Europeans' contact with Turkey, and the Europeans borrowed both the beverage and the word root from the Turks, who got them from the Arabs. The Arabic name ''qhawa'' was transformed into ''kaweh'' (strength, vigor) in the Ottoman Empire, and it spread from there to Europe, probably first through the Mediterranean languages (Italian, Spanish, French) and thence to German, English, and others.

See also

★ Coffeehouse

★ Cybercafé

★ Café de Flore

★ Café de la Régence

★ Café Procope

★ Café Society

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition (1989), entry number 50031127 (''café'').
2. Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition (1989), entry number 00333259 (''caffé, n'')
3. Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition (1989), entry number 50031130 (''caff'')