carafe
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of carafe
1780–90; < French < Italian caraff ( a ) < Spanish garrafa, perhaps < dialectal Arabic gharrāfah dipper, drinking vessel
Explanation
Wine is often served in a carafe, a flask, usually of glass or metal, with a wide mouth. It usually presents a more elegant way to serve than using the wine's original bottle or — heavens! — box. While carafes have been used since very early times, the word itself came through Spanish, Italian, and French, probably from the Arabic word gharrafa "ladle, scoop." It entered English by 1786.
Vocabulary lists containing carafe
English Food and Drink Words Derived from Arabic
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Shadowshaper
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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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.
See Examples For:
The tea-hued coffee, which he presented in an individual carafe over an ice sphere, tasted like Raisinets and wound up being the highlight of my search.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
Designed by Dean Maltz, a New York City architect, the handblown carafe is $260.
From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2024
It's simple, drip Intelligentsia, but it's served cold in a carafe alongside a glass packed with crushed ice, and, if you like, a smaller carafe of cream and a complementary slice of coffee cake.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2023
On this day she brought leftover kebabs, a carafe of Turkish coffee and a prayer rug.
From New York Times ● Apr. 11, 2023
There was a carafe of water on the dresser.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
“It looks good on a picture, and that’s about it,” Hennessey says, adding that in his own restaurant, he uses larger carafes to smooth out service and keep diners from getting grumpy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2025
It’s like dining in a Guatemalan art gallery, right down to the beaded clay water carafes placed on your table, each covered with a vivid embroidered floral runner.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 11, 2023
Holzer focuses intently on the tray in front of her — a portable mise en place loaded with shakers, glasses, ice, and a line of little carafes — prepping perfect petite mint leaves just so.
From Salon ● Feb. 16, 2020
The Moms, many of whom were teachers and had the summers “off,” sat on shore in beach chairs, armed with carafes of water, copies of the New York Times, and bottles of Coppertone SPF 4.
From Slate ● May 9, 2019
Laila was in the kitchen, making carafes of dogh with Giti.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
