latte en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /laˈteɪ/ (Hong-Kong)
- /ˈlɑː.teɪ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈlɑ.teɪ/ (General-American)
Etymology
Ellipsis of caffè latte, from Italian caffellatte, ultimately from Latin lac, lactis.
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) A drink of coffee made from espresso and steamed milk, generally topped with foam.
Photos of the drink, posted on Chinese social media platform Weibo by the Shanghai Starbucks Reserve Roastery, show a drizzle of dark red sauce atop the latte foam — with a square slice of pork on a skewer resting on the mug rim.
2024 February 20, Jessie Yeung and Hassan Tayir, “Pork flavored coffee is Starbucks’ newest China pitch”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2024:Yet in “Through a Latte, Darkly”, a new study of how Starbucks has largely avoided paying tax in Britain, Edward Kleinbard […] shows that current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate what he calls “stateless income”: […]. In Starbucks’s case, the firm has in effect turned the process of making an expensive cup of coffee into intellectual property.
2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2020, page 68:Lilian Benedict walked into the office carrying two cups of latte.
1991, Jayne Ann Krentz, chapter 12, in Sweet Fortune, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 208:High-priced lattes and customized drinks helped lift the coffee chain’s US sales in the quarter ending on October 1, the company said Thursday.
2023 November 2, Danielle Wiener-Bronner, “Starbucks is leaning into its sugary concoctions to boost the business”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 10 Jan 2024:
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(broadly, countable, uncountable) A similar drink, where the espresso is replaced with some other flavoring ingredient such as chai, maté or matcha (green tea).
matcha latte
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(attributive, countable, figuratively, informal, uncountable) Affluent leftism.
latte liberal
Newt Gingrich accused New York mayor Bill De Blasio of “small soy latte liberalism” in 2014 – emphasising that the only thing more girlish than drinking a big dairy milky coffee was drinking a small vegan milky coffee.
2025 September 4, Sam Wolfson, quoting Newt Gingrich, “Latte-swilling ‘performative males’: why milky drinks are shorthand for liberal”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 26 Sep 2025:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| lattes | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| latté | alternative, nonstandard | lexicographic |
Coordinates
Deriveds
latteless · Latte Town · latte art · latte liberal · latte-sipping · latte artist · poor man's latte · pumpkin spice latte · chai latte · latte levy · avolatte · vanillatte · avocado latte · latte factor
Relateds
fior di latte · café latte · latte macchiato · cosmic latte
Synonyms
caffè latte · cafe latté · coffee latté
Translations (38)
cmn 拿鐵 /拿铁 (caffè latte) · th ลาเต้ (caffè latte) · da caffe latte (caffè latte) · it caffellatte (caffè latte) · ko 카페라떼 (caffè latte) · bg ла́те (caffè latte) · de Caffè Latte (caffè latte) · de Milchkaffee (caffè latte) · lo ລາເຕ້ (caffè latte) · ja カフェラテ (caffè latte) · hy լատտէ (caffè latte) · pt latte (caffè latte) · cmn 拿鐵咖啡 /拿铁咖啡 (caffè latte) · sv kaffe latte (caffè latte) · vi cà phê latte (caffè latte) · bg кафела́те (caffè latte) · fi maitokahvi (caffè latte) · pl latte (caffè latte) · mk ка́фе ла́те (caffè latte) · es latte (caffè latte) · ar لَاتَيه (caffè latte) · fi latte (caffè latte) · fr café au lait (caffè latte) · tr latte (caffè latte) · ko 라떼 (caffè latte) · de Café au Lait (caffè latte) · ru ко́фе-ла́тте (caffè latte) · ja カフェラッテ (caffè latte) · af latte (caffè latte) · sh бије̑ла ка̀ва (caffè latte) · sv caffè latte (caffè latte) · sv latte (caffè latte) · ja ラテ (caffè latte) · af melkkoffie (caffè latte) · km ឡាតេ (caffè latte) · ru ла́тте (caffè latte) · nod ᩃᩢ᩠ᨲᨴᩮ (caffè latte) · lo ລາຕເທ (caffè latte)