cafétéria

A form of cafeteria — A restaurant in which customers select their food at a counter then carry it on a tray to a table to eat.

Meanings

nouncafétéria (plural cafétérias)

plural cafétérias

  1. rareRare spelling of cafeteria.

    Residences, cafétérias

    1999, Jeanne Lamoure-Rontopoulou, Evaluating Higher Education, UNESCO, →ISBN, page 95
    5 more examples

    Monday evening May 5, is the date for the May Campus luncheon given annually by the Y. W. C. A. This is served in cafétéria style and is much enjoyed by the entire student body and many town people.

    1913, Pi Beta Phi, The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, volume 29, page 723

    Waiting in line for the cafétéria in the transit centres at Creteil, a southern suburb of Paris, is a 24-year-old chemistry student.

    1979, Bruce Grant, The Boat People: An Age Investigation with Bruce Grant, Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 172

    With the exception of cafétérias and self-service restaurants, most eateries take credit cards.

    2000, Steve Fallon, Michael Rothschild, France, Lonely Planet, →ISBN, page 202

    Once inside and taking heed of the directions of their informative guide Rosemary, Charlotte turned her gaze from the wonderful display of leather handbags, gloves, and perfumes on the beauty counter and followed Daisy and the others onto the escalator going up to the cafétéria floor. / The selection of drinks in the cafétéria was extensive.

    2013, Rosalie Marsh, Oranges: A Journey, Christal Publishing, →ISBN

    We now had the whole day on our hands, and we wandered aimlessly around the town until we found a cafétéria tucked away in a side alley near the town centre.

    2015, Colin S. Story, After the Grape Harvest: Après les Vendanges, Strategic Book Publishing and Rights Co, →ISBN

Origin

  1. Frenchcafétéria
  2. Englishcafétéria

From French cafétéria.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

cafétéria. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caf%C3%A9t%C3%A9ria

MLA

“cafétéria.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caf%C3%A9t%C3%A9ria. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cafétéria,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caf%C3%A9t%C3%A9ria.

Source: cafétéria on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.