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cachet

[ka-shey, kash-ey; French ka-she]
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noun, plural ca·chets [ka-sheyz, kash-eyz; French ka-she] /kæˈʃeɪz, ˈkæʃ eɪz; French kaˈʃɛ/.
  1. an official seal, as on a letter or document.
  2. a distinguishing mark or feature; stamp: Courtesy is the cachet of good breeding.
  3. a sign or expression of approval, especially from a person who has a great deal of prestige.
  4. superior status; prestige: The job has a certain cachet.
  5. Pharmacology. a hollow wafer for enclosing an ill-tasting medicine.
  6. Philately. a firm name, slogan, or design stamped or printed on an envelope or folded letter.

Origin of cachet

1630–40; < French: literally, something compressed to a small size, equivalent to cache cache + -et -et
Can be confusedcache cachet cash
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cachet

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • It gave him a sort of cachet to be seen staying with Kit alone at a watering-place.

    Mammon and Co.

    E. F. Benson

  • The food is excellent--it has a cachet of its own; the wine more than merely good.

    Alone

    Norman Douglas

  • My dear, you know you are beautiful, and you have the cachet that all the Courthornes wear.

    The Impostor

    Harold Bindloss

  • Raffles bestowed the cachet of his smile on my description of his motley plate.

  • It has a cachet concerning which there can be no possible error.

    By-ways in Book-land

    William Davenport Adams

British Dictionary definitions for cachet

cachet

noun
  1. an official seal on a document, letter, etc
  2. a distinguishing mark; stamp
  3. prestige; distinction
  4. philately
    1. a mark stamped by hand on mail for commemorative purposes
    2. a small mark made by dealers and experts on the back of postage stampsCompare overprint (def. 3), surcharge (def. 5)
  5. a hollow wafer, formerly used for enclosing an unpleasant-tasting medicine

Word Origin

C17: from Old French, from cacher to hide
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cachet

n.

1630s, Scottish borrowing of French cachet "seal affixed to a letter or document" (16c.), from Old French dialectal cacher "to press, crowd," from Latin coactare "constrain" (see cache). Meaning evolving through "(letter under) personal stamp (of the king)" to "prestige." Cf. French lettre de cachet "letter under seal of the king."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
cachet in Medicine

cachet

(kă-shā′)
n.
  1. An edible wafer capsule used for enclosing an unpleasant-tasting drug.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.