café

¹

or ca·fe

[ ka-fey, kuh- French ka-fey ]

noun

, plural ca·fés [ka-, feyz, k, uh, -, k, a, -, fey].

1. a small, unpretentious restaurant, often with exterior seating on a patio or extending onto the sidewalk.

   Synonyms: tearoom, lunchroom, bistro, coffeehouse

2. coffee:

   I pick up a café and a croissant on my commute in to work every morning.

CAFE

²

[ ka-fey, kuh- ]

noun

1. a U.S. federally mandated standard of average minimum miles-per-gallon fuel consumption for all the cars produced by an automobile manufacturer in a given year.

café

/ ˈkæfɪ; ˈkæfeɪ /

noun

1. a small or inexpensive restaurant or coffee bar, serving light meals and refreshments
2. a corner shop or grocer

Spelling Note

See resume ².

Word History and Origins

Origin of café¹

First recorded in 1780–90; from French: literally, “coffee”; coffee

Origin of café²

C(orporate) A(verage) F(uel) E(conomy)

Word History and Origins

Origin of café¹

C19: from French: coffee

Example Sentences

In summer, the tiny camp café hosts an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast every morning.

From Outside Online

Pre-pandemic, they were set to open a café inside, but as a permanent indoor restaurant no longer became viable, Hilton says that the parties agreed to imagine an environment in plein air to enjoy sips and bites overlooking the elegant Potomac.

From Washington Blade

The café reintroduces the idea that the landscape there belongs to the people.

From Washington Blade

Jennifer Windbeck, senior vice president and head of branches, cafés, and private banking at Capital One, says women no longer have to present as “male” to make it in the field.

From Fortune

We parents hung back on the sidewalk and happily waved them off before grabbing an obligatory coffee at the nearby café.

From Fortune

As a cafe in Sydney, Australia came under siege by a hostage-taking gunman on Monday, those nearby attempted to flee the area.

From The Daily Beast

America already has a cereal cafe, Cereality, which has a store in Virginia and at the Dallas Fort Worth airport.

From The Daily Beast

But in October 2010, Palestinian security forces stormed into an Internet cafe and arrested me.

From The Daily Beast

Boyfriend, a New Orleans-based rapper who prefers not to reveal her real name, gets up from her decaf cafe au lait.

From The Daily Beast

In January, an attack on a Lebanese cafe popular with expats left 21 people dead.

From The Daily Beast

They take in a couple of French papers at this cafe, and the same number of Belgian journals.

From Project Gutenberg

Their generosity did not suffice for his dissipations, his cafe bills and his unbridled taste for billiards.

From Project Gutenberg

No long endless tables and big red velvet divans, as in a cafe!

From Project Gutenberg

At Tarascon, in a cafe, an hour ago; fifteen men attacked me, and I seized a knife to defend myself.

From Project Gutenberg

I tore off the wrappings and spread out the diamonds on the cafe table; I could not believe they were real.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bistro
• cafeteria
• coffee shop
• diner