Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Arabic ·1650s
Coffee
from qahwa
- Meaning
- Originally a term for wine; reapplied to the bean-based drink.
- Source word
- qahwa
- Route into English
- Arabic → Ottoman Turkish *kahve* → Italian *caffè* → English. Entered via the 1650s coffeehouse boom in Oxford and London.
- Arrived
- 1650s
From Arabic
Science, trade, and the Mediterranean transit of Andalusian scholarship gave English its Arabic stratum — especially in maths, chemistry, and commerce. Many entered through Latin or Italian.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.