Café au Lait
/ˌkæf.eɪ oʊ ˈleɪ/noun
Coffee served with hot or steamed milk, traditionally in roughly equal proportions.
Did you know?The word café ultimately passed through Arabic qahwa and Ottoman Turkish kahve before becoming the French café used in café au lait.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ǵlakt-
“Milk; the ancient root behind the French lait family”
Classical Latin
Latin
lac, lactem
“Milk; the source of French lait and English lact- words”
15th Century
Arabic
qahwa
“A drink originally associated with wine or another intoxicating beverage; later coffee”
16th Century
Ottoman Turkish
kahve
“Coffee, borrowed from Arabic qahwa”
17th Century
Italian
caffè
“Coffee, derived through Ottoman Turkish”
17th Century
French
café au lait
“Coffee with milk”
Modern English
English
café au lait
“Coffee served with hot or steamed milk”