carafe
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of carafe
1780–90; < French < Italian caraff ( a ) < Spanish garrafa, perhaps < dialectal Arabic gharrāfah dipper, drinking vessel
Explanation
Wine is often served in a carafe, a flask, usually of glass or metal, with a wide mouth. It usually presents a more elegant way to serve than using the wine's original bottle or — heavens! — box. While carafes have been used since very early times, the word itself came through Spanish, Italian, and French, probably from the Arabic word gharrafa "ladle, scoop." It entered English by 1786.
Vocabulary lists containing carafe
English Food and Drink Words Derived from Arabic
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Shadowshaper
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The tea-hued coffee, which he presented in an individual carafe over an ice sphere, tasted like Raisinets and wound up being the highlight of my search.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
It's simple, drip Intelligentsia, but it's served cold in a carafe alongside a glass packed with crushed ice, and, if you like, a smaller carafe of cream and a complementary slice of coffee cake.
From Salon • Jul. 24, 2023
Emergency medical technicians fanned out on the street, offering bagged sandwiches and a carafe of coffee.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 22, 2022
On Sunday, the living room of the Assads’ two-story home held the remnants of a wake: a carafe of bitter Arabic coffee — traditionally served during mourning — and plump dates in a decorative box.
From New York Times • Jan. 20, 2022
“Stop!” she cried, “don’t sing that. I don’t want you to sing it,” and she laid her glass so impetuously and blindly upon the table as to shatter it against a carafe.
From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
