cafeteria
/ˌka.fə.ˈtɪə̯.ɹi.ə/US/ˌkæ.fə.ˈtɪ(ə).ɹi.ə/
cafeteria noun: a restaurant in which customers select their food at a counter then carry it on a tray to a table to eat.
Noun
cafeteria (plural cafeterias)
- A restaurant in which customers select their food at a counter then carry it on a tray to a table to eat.
- A dining area in an institution where meals may be purchased (as above), provided, or brought in from elsewhere.
- Synonyms:
- canteen
cafeteria meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
cafeteria in Hindi
- restaurant
- कैंटीन kaiṇṭīn, कैफ़ेटेरिया kaifeṭeriyā, काफ़ीघर kāfīghar
cafeteria in Tamil
- சிற்றுண்டுச்சாலை
cafeteria in Marathi
- कॅफेटेरिया, कॅफेटेरीया
cafeteria in Urdu
- restaurant
- کَیفےٹیرِیا kaifeṭeriyā
More languagesFewer languages
- cafeteria in Bengali
- ক্যাফেটেরিয়া, ক্যাফেটেয়ারিয়া
- cafeteria in Telugu
- ఫలహారశాల
- cafeteria in Malayalam
- കേഫ്ഇറ്റീറിയ, ലഘുഭക്ഷണശാല, കാഫിസ്റ്റാൾ, ഭക്ഷണശാല
- cafeteria in Kannada
- ಉಪಹಾರ ಮಂದಿರ, ಉಪಹಾರ ಸ್ಥಾನ, ಸ್ವಸಹಾಯ ಉಪಹಾರ ಗೃಹ
- cafeteria in Punjabi
- ਕੈਫੇਟੇਰੀਆ, ਕੈਫੈਟੀਰੀਆ, ਕੈਫ਼ੇਟੀਰੀਆ
- cafeteria in Gujarati
- કાફેટેરિયા, કેફેટેરિયા, કાફેટેરીયા
- cafeteria in Odia
- କ୍ଯ଼ାଫେଟେରିଆ, କ୍ଯ଼ାଫେଟେରୀଆ, କ୍ଯ଼ାଫେଟେରିଯା
- cafeteria in Nepali
- क्याफेटेरिया
- cafeteria in Arabic
- مَقْصَف maqṣaf, كَافِتِيرِيَا kāfetēriyā
- cafeteria in Malay
- kafeteria
- cafeteria in Thai
- โรงอาหาร roong-aa-hǎan
- cafeteria in Vietnamese
- nhà ăn, căng tin, căn tin
Examples of cafeteria in a sentence
- From this day forward, there will be no more brussels sprouts at the cafeteria.
- You could hear the students mutter as they were served sodden spaghetti, yet again, in the cafeteria.
- The student council had a poll to see what people want served in the cafeteria.
Synonyms of cafeteria
Forms of cafeteria
| plural | cafeterias |
|---|---|
| alternative uncommon | caféteria |
| alternative form (rare) | cafétéria |
| alternative form (dated) | cafeterie |
Origin of cafeteria
Borrowed from Mexican Spanish cafetería (“coffeehouse”), from cafetera (“coffee maker”), from French cafetière, from café, from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve) (Turkish kahve), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa, “coffee”). Doublet of cafetière.
Words formed from cafeteria
Phrases with cafeteria
Words that rhyme with cafeteria
Questions about cafeteria
- What does cafeteria mean?
- Cafeteria means a restaurant in which customers select their food at a counter then carry it on a tray to a table to eat.
- What is cafeteria in Hindi?
- Cafeteria in Hindi is कैंटीन (kaiṇṭīn), कैफ़ेटेरिया (kaifeṭeriyā), काफ़ीघर (kāfīghar). See Cafeteria meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is cafeteria?
- Cafeteria is a noun.
- How do you pronounce cafeteria?
- Cafeteria is pronounced /ˌka.fə.ˈtɪə̯.ɹi.ə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of cafeteria?
- The plural of cafeteria is cafeterias.
Words near cafeteria in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cafeteria (page history and authors); cafeteria (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cafeteria (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cafeteria (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cafeteria (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cafeteria (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); cafeteria (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cafeteria (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cafeteria (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cafeteria (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cafeteria (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cafeteria.wav.
Cite this entry: “cafeteria.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cafeteria. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.