Waiter

How to spell waiter

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce waiter

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does waiter mean?

1. nounA man employed to serve food and drink to customers at a table in a restaurant or cafe.

Waiter in a sentence

• The waiter recommended the grilled salmon as the special of the day.

• She left a generous tip for the attentive waiter who had served their table.

Where does waiter come from?

Language of origin: French

The word combines the verb 'wait' with the agent suffix '-er', giving 'one who waits'. 'Wait' itself came into English from Old North French 'waitier', meaning to watch, to guard, or to lie in wait, and that word traces back to a Frankish and broadly Germanic root that also produced the English word 'watch'. Its earliest English sense was about keeping a lookout or attending closely on someone of importance. From the idea of attending on a person grew the more specific meaning of attending on diners at a table, and by the 1500s a 'waiter' was someone who served food and drink. The original watchful sense is a useful memory aid: the spelling keeps the plain 'wait' intact, so a waiter is literally one who waits on you, not a 'wator' or 'waitor'.

How the word is built

• wait (to watch for, to serve)
• -er (agent suffix: one who does)