cappuccino

See also: Cappuccino

English
WOTD – 2 June 2022

Etymology
PIE word
*káput
A cappuccino (sense 1).

Borrowed from Italian cappuccino (“cappuccino (coffee drink)”), from Viennese German Kapuziner (“Capuchin (member of an order of Roman Catholic friars)”) (due to the similarity of the dark brown colour of the beverage to that of the monastic habit;[1] compare Franziskaner (“Franciscan”), a contemporary coffee drink with more milk and hence a lighter colour, similar to Franciscan monks’ light brown habits),[2] and café noisette. Kapuziner was in turn borrowed from Italian cappuccino (“Capuchin”),[3] from Italian cappuccio (“cowl, hood”) (from the hoods of Capuchin monks’ habits) + -ino (diminutive suffix); and cappuccio from cappa (“cowl, hood; cape, cloak; sleeveless coat”) (from Late Latin cappa (“cape; sleeveless coat”); further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *káput (“head”)) + -uccio (“diminutive suffix”). Doublet of Capuchin.

The plural form cappuccini is derived from Italian cappuccini.

details

In English attested 1904 as “[small] coffee mixed with milk”,[4] 1933 as “express strong coffee diluted with milk”;[2] in Italian 1905 as “black coffee ‘corrected’ with milk”,[2][5] and still in 1931 as “black coffee mixed with a little milk”;[2][6] the modern sense of a coffee drink made with espresso at a bar presumably developed in the 1930s in Italian, and was borrowed into English.[2] The Italian term is of Northern Italian origin, in areas of former or contemporary Austrian rule and influence.[2][5] The German term Capuzinerkaffee (Capuchin coffee) is attested 1790, referring to a rather different drink (boiled coffee with cream, sugar, spice, and whisked eggs),[7] though by 1848 and into the early 1900s the Kapuziner had come to mean a drink of coffee and milk, with more coffee than milk, by contrast with the Melange, which had more milk than coffee; this usage continues to the present.[2]

The etymology is confusing for a number of reasons. Firstly, the sense of “coffee beverage” originated in German, not in Italian, but the word (in the sense “Capuchin monk”) was calqued from Italian into German and then the sense of “coffee beverage” was reborrowed back into Italian. Secondly, the beverage that it refers to has changed over time: the modern international beverage is based on the Italian espresso-based, milk foam-topped drink of the mid-1900s, not the Viennese drink of coffee plus milk or cream from the 1800s; in Viennese coffeehouses, the Kapuziner and Franziskaner are still served, while the Viennese equivalent of the modern foam-topped cappuccino is the Melange. Thirdly, the association of the word with the drink is sometimes (erroneously) believed to be due to the “cap” of foam in the modern espresso-based form of the drink, though at the time the word was coined (in the 1700s) the drink only consisted of adding milk or cream to coffee: espresso machines date to the 1880s and foam-topped cappuccinos date to the mid-1900s, long after the word was established.

Pronunciation
  • Singular:
    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌkæpʊˈtʃiːnəʊ/, /-pə-/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
    • (General American) IPA(key): /ˌkæpəˈt͡ʃinoʊ/
    • Rhymes: -iːnəʊ
    • Hyphenation: cap‧puc‧ci‧no
  • Plural (cappuccini)

Noun

cappuccino (countable and uncountable, plural cappuccinos or (less common) cappuccini)

  1. (uncountable) An Italian coffee-based beverage made from espresso to which milk that has been steamed and/or frothed is added; (countable) a cup of this beverage.
    • 1904, K[arl] Baedeker, Italy: Handbook for Travellers, 2nd part (Central Italy and Rome), 14th edition, Leipzig: Karl Baedeker; London: Dulau and Co., […], OCLC 55647796, page xxi:
      Caffè latte (served only in the morning) is coffee mixed with milk; cappuccino, or small cup, cheaper; […]
    • 1962, Carlo Cassola, Marguerite Waldman, transl., Bébo’s Girl, London: Collins, OCLC 753124352, page 50:
      “What will you have? A cappuccino? Two cappuccini,” […]
    • 1986, Jackie Collins, chapter 41, in Hollywood Husbands, New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 189:
      The waiter kissed his fingertips. “We have the best ice cream,” he announced. “Made on the premises. We have vanilla, cherry, rum, banana, strawberry—” / Jack stopped him. “You’ve hooked me,” he said. “Bring a dish of banana.” / “With hot chocolate sauce?” / “The works.” / “Nuts?” / “Everything!” / “And two cappuccini?” / “I think I’ll live dangerously and have a plain coffee with Amaretto on the side,” Jade said.
    • 2016, Camilla Trinchieri, chapter 6, in Seeking Alice […], Albany, N.Y.: Excelsior Editions, State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 126:
      Cesare brought over three cappuccini.
  2. (countable, uncountable, proscribed) Any of various similar drinks.
    • 1948, Robert O’Brien, “Old Town”, in This is San Francisco, New York, N.Y.; Toronto, Ont.: McGraw-Hill Book Company, OCLC 968535458, page 84:
      In fact, a step from the corner of Grant Avenue and Broadway is a café called “La Tosca.” Scenes from the opera are painted on the walls; [Enrico] Caruso sings from the juke box, and you drink a cappuccino, gray, like the robe of a capuchin monk, and made of chocolate that is laced with brandy or rum, and heated by steam forced through coffee.
      The color of the monks’ robes was misidentified as gray rather than dark brown.
  3. (uncountable, also attributively) A medium- to dark-brown colour like that of the coffee drink (sense 1) or the habit of a Capuchin monk.
    cappuccino:  
    • 1928 September 29, “Tuttle & Clark [advertisement]”, in The Detroit Free Press, volume 94, number 2, Detroit, Mich.: Detroit Free Press, ISSN 1055-2758, OCLC 1235571195, page 15, columns 1–2:
      This Morning We Present The "Times Square"—a hat for gentlemen who appreciate the importance of correct attire. […] English Grey or Cappuccino Brown

Coordinate terms

Derived terms

Translations
medium- to dark-brown colour like that of the coffee drink or the habit of a Capuchin monk

See also
  • Appendix:Colors

References
  1. “cappuccio” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN
  2. Robert W. Thurston; Jonathan Morris; Shawn Steiman (2013), “The Espresso Menu”, in Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, pages 269–270.
  3. Compare “cappuccino, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2021; “cappuccino, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. K[arl] Baedeker (1904) Italy: Handbook for Travellers, 14th edition, Leipzig: Karl Baedeker; London: Dulau and Co., […], OCLC 55647796, page xxi: “Caffè latte (served only in the morning) is coffee mixed with milk; cappuccino, or small cup, cheaper; […] ”
  5. Alfredo Panzini (1905) Dizionario moderno: Supplemento ai dizionari italiani, Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, OCLC 636575925.
  6. Alfredo Panzini (1931) Dizionario moderno: Supplemento ai dizionari italiani, 6th edition, Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, OCLC 636327575.
  7. “The Vocabularist: How did cappuccino get its name?”, in Magazine Monitor, BBC News Online‎, 1 September 2015, archived from the original on 2015-09-01:
    The first coffee shops in Vienna appeared about this time, but the term Kapuziner for coffee was not recorded till later. One example is a recipe for "Capuzinerkaffee" by the German "Wilhelm Tissot", published in 1790. The coffee is boiled, then mixed with cream, sugar and spices and boiled again before being poured over egg whites and yolks and whisked.

Further reading

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cappuccino.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˌkɑ.puˈtʃi.noː/, (less common) /ˌkɑ.pyˈtʃi.noː/
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: cap‧puc‧ci‧no

Noun

cappuccino m (plural cappuccino's, diminutive cappuccinootje n)

  1. cappuccino

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cappuccino.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈkɑputʃi(ː)no/, [ˈkɑput̪ˌʃi(ː)no̞]
  • IPA(key): /ˈkɑputsi(ː)no/, [ˈkɑput̪ˌs̠i(ː)no̞]

Noun

cappuccino

  1. cappuccino (beverage and serving)

Declension
Inflection of cappuccino (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)
nominative cappuccino cappuccinot
genitive cappuccinon cappuccinojen
partitive cappuccinoa cappuccinoja
illative cappuccinoon cappuccinoihin
singular plural
nominative cappuccino cappuccinot
accusative nom. cappuccino cappuccinot
gen. cappuccinon
genitive cappuccinon cappuccinojen
partitive cappuccinoa cappuccinoja
inessive cappuccinossa cappuccinoissa
elative cappuccinosta cappuccinoista
illative cappuccinoon cappuccinoihin
adessive cappuccinolla cappuccinoilla
ablative cappuccinolta cappuccinoilta
allative cappuccinolle cappuccinoille
essive cappuccinona cappuccinoina
translative cappuccinoksi cappuccinoiksi
instructive — cappuccinoin
abessive cappuccinotta cappuccinoitta
comitative — cappuccinoineen
Possessive forms of cappuccino (type valo)
possessor singular plural
1st person cappuccinoni cappuccinomme
2nd person cappuccinosi cappuccinonne
3rd person cappuccinonsa

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cappuccino.

Pronunciation
  • Audio(file)

Noun

cappuccino m (plural cappuccinos)

  1. cappuccino

Italian

Etymology

From cappuccio (“hood, cowl”) +‎ -ino. The coffee gets its name from the colour/color of the beverage, which is reminiscent of the colour/color of monks' habits.[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /kap.putˈt͡ʃi.no/
  • Rhymes: -ino
  • Hyphenation: cap‧puc‧cì‧no

Noun

cappuccino m (plural cappuccini)

  1. Capuchin (member of an order of Roman Catholic friars)
  2. cappuccino
    Synonym: (informal) cappuccio
  3. (slang) French letter, rubber johnny (condom)

Descendants

Adjective

cappuccino (feminine cappuccina, masculine plural cappuccini, feminine plural cappuccine)

  1. Capuchin

References
  1. “cappuccio” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN

Further reading

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian cappuccino.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ka.puˈt͡ʂi.nɔ/
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -inɔ
  • Syllabification: ca‧ppu‧cci‧no

Noun

cappuccino n (indeclinable)

  1. cappuccino

Adjective

cappuccino (not comparable)

  1. having the taste or color of cappuccino

Declension

Indeclinable.

Further reading
  • cappuccino in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • cappuccino in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian cappuccino.

Noun

cappuccino m (plural cappuccinos or (rare) cappuccini)

  1. cappuccino (type of coffee)

Romanian

Etymology

From Italian cappuccino or French cappuccino.

Noun

cappuccino n (plural cappuccino)

  1. cappuccino

Declension
Declension of cappuccino
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) cappuccino cappuccinoul (niște) cappuccino cappuccinole
genitive/dative (unui) cappuccino cappuccinoului (unor) cappuccino cappuccinolor
vocative cappuccinoule cappuccinolor

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Italian cappuccino.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /kapuˈt͡ʃino/ [ka.puˈt͡ʃi.no]
  • Rhymes: -ino

Noun

cappuccino m (plural cappuccinos)

  1. cappuccino

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cappuccino.

Noun

cappuccino c

  1. cappuccino

Declension
Declension of cappuccino 
Uncountable
Indefinite Definite
Nominative cappuccino cappuccinon — —
Genitive cappuccinos cappuccinons — —
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