cafeteria

American  

[kaf-i-teer-ee-uh] / ˌkæf ɪˈtɪər i ə /

noun

• cafeterias
  plural

1. a restaurant in which patrons wait on themselves, carrying their food to tables from counters where it is displayed and served.

2. a lunchroom or dining hall, as in a factory, office, or school, where food is served from counters or dispensed from vending machines or where food brought from home may be eaten.

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cafeteria British  

/ ˌkæfɪˈtɪərɪə /

noun

1. a self-service restaurant

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cafeterias
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cafeteria

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40; from Latin American Spanish cafetería “café,” Spanish cafeter(a) “coffeemaker,” from French caf(f)etière (equivalent to café + etière feminine of -ier ); t apparently by analogy with words such as bouquetière “flower seller,” from bases ending in t ) + -ía; see origin at coffee, -ier ²

Explanation

A cafeteria is a restaurant where you serve yourself, then pay a cashier. Most schools have a cafeteria serving up sloppy joes and square pizza. "Let's go to the cafeteria!" usually means "Let's eat!" Most people think of school cafeterias, but they can exist elsewhere — a lot of Ikea stores actually have cafeterias for the customers. Cafeteria-style refers to any restaurant where you grab what you want and then pay for it before eating. Cafeterias usually aren't known for having the best food in the world, so if you have another option, go for it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cafeteria cafeterias

That cafeteria approach to fare pricing came out of post-pandemic air-travel lessons, at least in part.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

All 400 seats in the sweltering auditorium were filled, with an additional 300 people in the cafeteria.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

SpaceX’s compensation philosophy historically favored equity over cash salaries, so this windfall extends well beyond executives and engineers to include nontechnical staff, entry-level workers and even cafeteria employees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Vegetarian food is served cafeteria style and in practice if not by decree, eaten slowly, putting down the fork between bites.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

The two girls were sitting together at a long white table in the River Heights Elementary School cafeteria.

From "Pony Problems: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #3" by Carolyn Keene

By 2006, House cafeterias had quietly restored the French names.

From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026

Cook is regularly spotted walking the halls of Apple Park or grabbing lunch at one of Apple’s Caffè Mac cafeterias.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026

At UC hospitals, union members work in cafeterias, as radiology technologists, nurse’s aides and patient transporters, among other roles.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026

As someone who grew up with rock ’n’ roll, the hyper-amplified early Philip Glass Ensemble, and really noisy cafeterias, I was unbothered.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2025

For example, two years later, all the school cafeterias in town were serving delicious food at least four days a week, all because of Nick the Consumer.

From "Frindle" by Andrew Clements

Related Words

• lunchroom
• snack bar