Café au Lait
/ka.fe o lɛ/noun
Coffee served with hot or steamed milk, typically in roughly equal proportions.
Did you know?The French word lait descends from Latin lac, meaning “milk,” a root also connected to words such as lactose and galaxy—the latter named from the Milky Way.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ǵl̥ǵ- / *h₂elǵ-
“A reconstructed root associated with milk and milky substances”
Classical Latin
Latin
lac, lactis
“Milk”
Arabic, Medieval Period
Arabic
qahwa
“Coffee; the term later traveled through Ottoman Turkish into European languages”
17th Century
French
café
“Coffee, borrowed through Italian from Ottoman Turkish kahve and ultimately Arabic qahwa”
Old French
Old French
lait
“Milk, descended from Latin lac, lactis”
19th Century
French
café au lait
“Coffee with milk; the established name for the drink”
Modern English
English
café au lait
“Coffee served with hot or steamed milk”