latte
Americannoun
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lattes
plural
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Also called caffè latte. hot espresso with steamed milk, usually topped with foamed milk.
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tea made with steamed milk, usually topped with foamed milk.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of latte
First recorded in 1990–95; from Italian (caffè) latte “(coffee with) milk,” from Latin lac (stem lact- ); cognate with French lait, Portuguese leite, Spanish leche
Compare meaning
How does latte compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A latte is a milky espresso drink you can order at most American cafes. Many lattes have delicate patterns or pictures drawn in the creamy foam on top. The full name of a latte is "caffe latte," which means "milk coffee" in Italian. Other countries have variations on this idea, from France's "café au lait" to Germany's "Milchkaffee." While Caffè latte was used in Italy for milky coffee drinks made in people's homes, it wasn't found until very recently on cafe menus — the latte is more of an American invention. If you order a latte in Italy, in fact, what you'll get is a glass of milk.
Vocabulary lists containing latte
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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:
Investors need to be on their guard against the pumpkin-spice latte effect, which is about to rear its ugly head.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
I assumed I could drink one Celsius for every double-shot latte I’d typically consume.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
I’ll get a little vanilla latte with oat milk, and I’ll stop at this stand, King’s Empanadas, because they make my favorite empanada in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
A regular latte is about £2.40, much lower than in other UK coffee cafes.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
She just smiles a fake smile and messes with her iced latte or whatever she's drinking.
From "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi
With matcha lattes in hand, attendees walked around the synthetic turf filming content.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
I down three iced lattes daily, a habit I refuse to break even as my bank account groans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Even some of my matcha-skeptical friends enjoyed lattes made with it.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
“To put that into perspective, that is five lattes in New York City.”
From MarketWatch ● May 21, 2026
When we arrived, Mom bought us coffee lattes and a huge, gooey Cinnabon, which we shared with two plastic forks while we waited on a wooden bench.
From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings
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.
