Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Spanish ·1890s
Cafeteria
from cafetería (American Spanish)
- Meaning
- Coffee-house; coffee-seller's shop.
- Source word
- cafetería (American Spanish)
- Route into English
- Borrowed into US English around 1890 via Spanish-speaking California; the "self-service dining hall" sense is a 1920s American innovation.
- Arrived
- 1890s
From Spanish
American Spanish, not peninsular Spanish, provided most of the modern loanwords — through US expansion westward and Latin American trade.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.