coffee (English)
Where does "coffee" come from?
The English word 'coffee' traveled through multiple languages before arriving in its current form, borrowing its roots from Dutch 'koffie'[1]. The Dutch term came from Italian 'caffè'[3], which derived from Ottoman Turkish 'kahve'[2], originally borrowed from the Arabic 'qahwa'[4]. While medieval Arabic sources originally used 'qahwa' to mean 'wine' or a type of brew, the coffee sense itself is of disputed origin[5]. English also shares 'coffee' as a doublet with 'café' and 'caffè'.
Open questions
- The coffee sense of the Arabic term is ultimately of disputed origin, with some sources proposing an alternative link to the Omotic Kaffa region in Ethiopia. [5]
Full etymology tree
- coffee (English), 'A beverage made by infusing the beans of the coffee plant in hot water.'
- borrowed koffie (Dutch), 'coffee (beverage)'
- borrowed caffè (Italian), 'coffee (plant and drink)'
- borrowed قهوه (kahve) (Ottoman Turkish), 'coffee'
- borrowed قهوة (qahwa) (Arabic), 'coffee (the drink)'
- borrowed قهوه (kahve) (Ottoman Turkish), 'coffee'
- borrowed caffè (Italian), 'coffee (plant and drink)'
- borrowed koffie (Dutch), 'coffee (beverage)'
Ancestors
- koffie (Dutch)
- caffè (Italian)
- قهوه (Ottoman Turkish)
Cognates and doublets
- café (English)
- caffè (English)
Descendants and derived words
- anticoffee (English)
- Arabian coffee (English)
- black coffee (English)
- bulletproof coffee (English)
- calypso coffee (English)
- chicory coffee (English)
- civet coffee (English)
- coffee-and (English)
- coffee and cake (English)
- coffee and cakes (English)
- coffee au lait (English)
- coffee bag (English)
Sources
- coffee (English) - Wiktionary
- caffè (Italian) - Wiktionary
- koffie (Dutch) - Wiktionary
- قهوه (kahve) (Ottoman Turkish) - Wiktionary
- قهوة (qahwa) (Arabic) - Wiktionary
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris