toque

American  

[tohk] / toʊk /

noun

• toques
  plural

1. a brimless and close-fitting hat for women, in any of several shapes.

2. a velvet hat with a narrow, sometimes turned-up brim, a full crown, and usually a plume, worn by men and women especially in 16th-century France.

3. a tall white hat with pleats, worn by chefs.

4. tuque.

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toque British  

/ təʊk /

noun

1. a woman's small round brimless hat, popular esp in Edwardian times

2. a hat with a small brim and a pouched crown, popular in the 16th century

3. same as tuque

4. a chef's tall white hat

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• toques
  plural

Etymology

Origin of toque

First recorded in 1495–1505; from French; replacing earlier toock, towk (from Portuguese touca “coif ”), tock, tocque (from Italian tocca “cap”), and toke (from Spanish toca “headdress”); further origin uncertain

Explanation

A toque is the tall hat that many professional chefs wear. Since the late 18th century, chef toques are almost always white. At one time, the color of your toque represented your rank in the kitchen. White was eventually chosen as the "most sanitary" color. You can also use toque to describe an old-fashioned women's hat with a narrow brim, or in Canada, a knitted winter cap. The origin of this word is uncertain, although some experts believe it stems from the Arabic word taqa, "opening."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

toque toques

The final scene, in which Titus enters dressed as a chef, a cream puff of a toque jauntily placed on his head—he’s baked those unpalatable pies—retains its deranged tone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026

I don't care what some chef in a toque says about caramelizing onions; I want to hear the telephone cord cooking lowdown you'd warn your cousin about when she was making dinner.

From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025

After photographing birds and leopards, Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod captured a young toque macaque peacefully sleeping in an adult's arms to highlight the challenges these monkeys face amid habitat loss and farmer conflicts.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2024

Other pieces in the collection, which ranges from $275 to $1,350, are a toque, reversible fleece jacket and reversible vest.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2024

A very small expensive black toque was hideously unbecoming to the yellow, toad-like face beneath it.

From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie

In North America, Arc’teryx was beloved in the outdoor-sporting community, but its jackets and beanie-like toques also had a following among “gorpcore” fashion aficionados.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 6, 2025

HAVERHILL, Mass. — The students all wore white chef coats, houndstooth pants and short toques as they tasted their lamb tagines for salt.

From New York Times ● Mar. 28, 2022

Old-school service is alive and well at the Plaza: High tea treats are served in brass birdcages, tuxedo-clad bellman whisk away luggage to gilded suites, and chefs bear toques that tower above their heads.

From Time ● Aug. 16, 2017

It was so cold that day that the ice chipped off in plate-sized chunks, that the goaltenders wore toques.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 31, 2014

At our age," said Aunt William, "only little flower toques, as you call them, should be left to younger people.

From The Twelfth Hour by Ada Leverson

Related Words

• hat
• helmet
• tiara
• turban