How to Say "Coffee" in 60+ Languages
Have you ever wondered how to say "coffee" in different languages or needed to know how to order coffee while traveling internationally? We'll take you around the world to learn how to say coffee in over 70 languages.
Note: Many of these words have been Romanized.
The Word Coffee Around the World
In English, we use the word coffee, which has its origins in the 16th-century. It derives from the Italian caffe, the Turkish kahve, and the Arabic qahwah.
A few other languages picked up the word or a derivative:
Urdu: coffee
Welsh: coffi (pronounced ko-FEE)
In many languages throughout the world, the letter 'k' is preferred over the hard 'c,' and yet the word is pronounced in a very similar manner.
Afrikaans: koffie (pronounced coffee)
Dutch: koffie (pronounced coffee)
Esperanto: kafo
German: der Kaffee (pronounced kah-FEE; masculine; the “K” is capitalized because all German nouns are capitalized)
Finnish: kahvi
Hindi: kofi (pronounced KOH-fee)
Russian: kofe (pronounced koe-fee)
Where 'Café' Is Used Around the World
Café (pronounced ka-FEY) is used more widely than coffee, and a variety of languages prefer it, including French, Italian, and Spanish. It's thought to have started in Italy with caffe, referring to the Kaffa region in Ethiopia.
You're pretty safe in using café when traveling throughout the world.
Italian: caffe (pronounced KA-fee)
French: café
Spanish: el café (masculine)
Bengali/Bangla: café
Catalan: cafe
Galician: café
Irish: caife
Portuguese: café
Romanian: cafea (pronounced café-ah)
Thai: kafea or ca-fea
Vietnamese: ca phe (pronounced ka FEY) or cafe
Again, many languages prefer to use a 'k' in café, though the pronunciation rarely changes.
Albanian: kafe (pronounced KA-fey)
Basque: kafea or akeuta
Bulgarian: kafe
Creole: kafe
Danish: kaffe (pronounced kah-FEY)
Greek: kafés (pronounced ka-FACE)
Haitian Creole: kafe (pronounced kah-FEY)
Hebrew: ka-feh
Macedonian: kafe
Maltese: kafe
Norwegian: kaffe
Swedish: kaffe
Wolof: kafe
A few European languages use a softer ending, more like 'fee' rather than 'fay.'
Icelandic: kaffii.'
Latvian: kafija (pronounced ka-fee-ya)
Luxembourgish: Kaffi (like in German, all nouns are capitalized)
The languages of China and its neighbors are interesting. They sound very similar to café, but when they are Romanized, they read a little different.
Chinese (Cantonese): ga feh
Chinese (Mandarin): kafei (both consonants are in a "first tone," meaning that they are high and even in pronunciation)
Taiwanese: ka fei (same as Mandarin)
Ethiopian Amharic: buna (pronounced boona)
Ethiopian Semitic: bunna, buni, or bun
Arabic: qahioa, qahua, or qahwe (The 'q' sound is pronounced low in the throat so that it may sound more like 'ahua' to non-Arabic speakers.)
Kava: A Popular Word for Coffee
Taking from the Arabic word qahwah, the Turkish word kahveh developed. This led to many of the Eastern European languages using the word kava for coffee.
Turkish: kahveh (pronounced kah-VEY)
Belarusian: kava
Croatian: kava
Czech: kava (pronounced kaava) or kafe
Lithuanian: kava
Polish: kawa (pronounced kava)
Slovakian: kava (pronounced kah-va)
Ukrainian: kavy or kava
A few languages in this same region have slight variations on kava:
Georgian: qava or chai
Hungarian: kavé (pronounced KAH-vey)
Serbian: kafa
Slovenian: kave
Yiddish: kave
Pacific Island Languages and 'Kopi'
As we move into the islands of the Pacific Ocean, we see more variations of kopi when speaking about coffee.
Filipino/Tagalog: kape
Hawaiian: kope
Indonesian: kopi
Korean: keopi or ko-pyi
Malay: kawah or koppi
Sinhalese (Sri Lanka): kopi
Tamil (Sri Lanka): kapi-kottai or kopi
More Ways to Say Coffee
There are always exceptions, and these languages prefer to use their word for coffee. You can see some similarities with the more popular derivatives, but they are unique.
Armenian: surch (pronounced suurch) or sourdj
Estonian: kohv
Japanese: koohii
Ojibwe: muckadaymashkikiwabu (literally mean "black medicine water" in the language of the Anishinabek Native Americans)
Persian: qéhvé
Swahili: kahawa
Zulu: ikhofi