café au lait

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French café au lait (literally “coffee with milk”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌkæfeɪ əʊ ˈleɪ/, /kæˌfeɪ əʊ ˈleɪ/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪ

Noun

café au lait (countable and uncountable, plural café au laits or cafés au lait)

  1. A mixture of coffee and hot milk.
    Coordinate terms: caffè latte, latte, café noir
    • 1985, Margaret Atwood, “Soul Scrolls”, in The Handmaid’s Tale, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →ISBN, page 164:
      It was like using a language I'd once known but had nearly forgotten, a language having to do with customs that had long before passed out of the world: café au lait at an outdoor table, with a brioche, absinthe in a tall glass, or shrimp in a cornucopia of newspaper; things I'd once read about but had never seen.
  2. Coffee and hot milk served in separate jugs as a breakfast drink.
  3. A light coffee colour.
    café au lait:  

Usage notes

Oxford Canadian Spelling indicates the preferred plural form is cafés au lait.[1]

Derived terms

  • café au lait birthmark
  • café au lait spot

Translations

References

  1. Robert Pontisso and Eric Sinkins, editors (1999), Oxford Canadian Spelling, Oxford University Press, published 2004, →ISBN, page 72, column 1

Danish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From French café au lait (“coffee with milk”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kafeolɛ/, [kʰafeoˈlɛ]

Noun

café au lait c (singular definite café au laiten or café au lait'en, plural indefinite café au laiter or café au lait'er)

  1. café au lait

Inflection

Further reading

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ka.fe o lɛ/
  • (file)

Noun

café au lait m (plural cafés au lait)

  1. white coffee, coffee with milk
    Deux cafés au lait, s’il vous plait.
    Two white coffees, please.

Coordinate terms

Descendants

  • → Danish: café au lait
  • → English: café au lait
  • → Mandarin: 咖啡歐蕾/咖啡欧蕾 (kāfēiōulěi)

Adjective

café au lait (invariable)

  1. light brown, café au lait
    une peau café au lait ― light brown skin
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