cafe

cafe — noun

1. a casual eating place, often quite small, where customers come to sit with a hot

1.nounA1
Definition

a casual eating place, often quite small, where customers come to sit with a hot drink, a sandwich, a slice of cake, or a light meal — usually cheaper and more relaxed than a proper restaurant.

Example

Yara stopped at a small cafe near the train station for coffee and toast.

preposition: at + a cafe

There is a quiet cafe on the corner where students go to study with a laptop.

there is + cafe + relative clause

Common collocations
  • small cafe
  • cosy cafe
  • internet cafe
  • street cafe
  • corner cafe
  • open a cafe
  • run a cafe
Synonyms
  • coffee shop

    very close in meaning; emphasises coffee over food

  • tearoom

    older, British; emphasises tea and cake, often genteel

  • bistro

    slightly more upmarket; serves proper meals, often French-style

  • diner

    American; bigger menu, all-day breakfasts, classic roadside style

Grammar Patterns

a/the cafe

in/at a cafe

open a cafe

Usage Note

Often appears with prepositions 'at' (location: I'll meet you at the cafe) and 'in' (inside: it was warm in the cafe). Frequently modified by adjectives describing atmosphere or location ('cosy cafe', 'street cafe', 'corner cafe'). British speakers also pronounce and spell it 'café' with the accent; American English usually drops the accent.

Common Mistakes

Let's go to a cafe to drink coffee and eat steak.
Let's go to a restaurant to drink coffee and eat steak.
cafes serve light meals and snacks, not full main courses like steak.
The cafe was full of people drinking wine and beer.
The bar was full of people drinking wine and beer.
most British and American cafes do not serve alcohol; for that, use 'bar' or 'pub'.

2. a tiny neighbourhood shop, mainly in some English-speaking countries, that sells

2.nounB2
Definition

a tiny neighbourhood shop, mainly in some English-speaking countries, that sells things like sweets, magazines, milk, bread, and snacks, and tends to keep its doors open into the late evening.

Example

Apinya ran down to the cafe on the corner to buy a pint of milk.

British/regional: cafe = corner shop

The cafe near the bus stop sells newspapers, sweets, and lottery tickets until midnight.

typical goods sold at this kind of cafe

Common collocations
  • corner cafe
  • local cafe
  • late-night cafe
  • go to the cafe
  • the cafe down the road
Synonyms
  • corner shop

    British; same idea, more common term

  • convenience store

    American/general; often part of a chain (7-Eleven etc.)

  • dairy

    New Zealand; same kind of small late-open shop

  • bodega

    American (esp. New York); small neighbourhood store

Antonyms
  • supermarket

    much larger, with set opening hours and a wide product range

  • department store

    huge multi-floor shop selling clothes, furniture, electronics, etc.

Grammar Patterns

a/the cafe

go to the cafe

Usage Note

Mostly heard in Australian, New Zealand, and parts of British English; American English would usually say 'corner store', 'convenience store', or 'bodega'. Distinguish from sense 1 by what is on offer: a place selling milk, sweets, and newspapers is sense 2; one selling coffee and cake to drink in is sense 1.

Common Mistakes

I sat at a cafe and bought toothpaste and a magazine.
I went into a cafe and bought toothpaste and a magazine.
sense 2 is a tiny shop you walk into and out of, not a place you sit and order; only sense 1 takes 'sit at'.
There's a cafe across the road that sells petrol.
There's a service station across the road that sells petrol.
even sense 2 cafes do not sell fuel; they stock small everyday items only.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All five describe places where you can sit, order something to drink, and have something light to eat — the differences are in scale, menu, and atmosphere. 'Cafe' is the broadest and most international: anywhere from a single counter to a sit-down spot serving coffee, tea, sandwiches, and cakes. 'Coffee shop' overlaps almost completely but signals that coffee is the main draw — think Starbucks-style chains. 'Bistro' is a step up in formality and price, with proper plated meals (often French-influenced) and table service. 'Diner' is American and quite different in feel: long opening hours, all-day breakfasts, booth seating, and a much fuller menu than a cafe. 'Tearoom' is older and British, focused on tea, scones, and afternoon cake. Compare: Yara grabbed a flat white at a tiny cafe; the same Yara would book a table at a bistro for dinner.

cafe ↗coffee shopbistrodiner ↗tearoom

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • just outside
  • just down the road
  • right beside

Phrases

  • meet at a cafe
  • open a cafe
  • run a cafe
  • sit in a cafe
  • internet cafe
  • pavement cafe
  • cafe culture

Prepositions

  • at the cafe
  • in the cafe
  • outside the cafe
  • near the cafe

Etymology

ArabicTurkishItalianFrenchEnglish

English borrowed 'cafe' straight from French 'café', which itself came from Italian 'caffè'. Both ultimately trace back to the Turkish word 'kahve', and earlier still to the Arabic 'qahwa', the original word for the brewed-bean drink. The shop sense followed the drink: as coffeehouses spread from the Ottoman Empire into Europe in the 1600s, 'café' came to label not just the drink but also the place where you went to sit and enjoy it. English picked up the word in the early 1800s, often keeping the French accent on the 'é'.