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joe

1 American  
[joh] / dʒoʊ /

noun

Informal.

  1. coffee.

    If you're looking for a pastry or breakfast sandwich to go with your morning cup of joe, we’ve got you covered!
Joe 2 American  
[joh] / dʒoʊ /

noun

  1. (sometimes lowercase) fellow; guy.

    the average Joe who works for a living.

  2. Informal. a personification of a typical, often unprepossessing representative of an occupation, personality trait, state of being, etc., that is expressed, sometimes metonymically, as a mock surname.

    Joe Lunchbucket working hard at some factory and paying his taxes year after year; political con artists relying on the gullibility of Joe Schmo.

  3. a male given name, form of Joseph.

Joe British  
/ dʒəʊ /

noun

  1. a man or fellow

  2. a GI; soldier

"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

Etymology

Origin of joe

First recorded in 1840–50; of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

One roaster’s ride on the roller coaster of coffee pricing helps explain the many reasons consumers keep paying more for a cup of joe.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

Who wouldn’t be cranky about paying $6 for a dark roast cup of joe?

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025

After a morning cup of joe, the Oscar-winning actor-entrepreneur enjoys soup for lunch — but by soup, she actually means bone broth.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 23, 2023

The UW women’s hoops program appears to be rising like cream in a Starbucks cup of joe.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 19, 2023

For joe, the moment of epiphany came on the eighty-sixth floor of the new Empire State Building.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.