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caf·e·te·ri·a

(kăf′ĭ-tîrē-ə)

1. A restaurant in which the customers are served at a counter and carry their meals on trays to tables.

2. A dining area, as at a school or office building, where meals may be purchased or brought from home and eaten.

[Spanish cafetería, coffee shop, cafeteria, from café, coffee, ultimately (via French, café, or Italian, caffè) from Ottoman Turkish qahve; see COFFEE.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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