Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “restaurant” come from?

Restaurant comes from French restaurer, meaning to restore or repair, from Latin restauro, composed of the prefix re- and a root from Proto-Italic wre and Proto-Indo-European wert- and wer-, referring to turning or restoring.

restaurant (English): An eating establishment in which diners are...

Definitions

  1. An eating establishment in which diners are...

Ancestry of “restaurant”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchrestaurantrestaurant; present participle of restaurer
2Latinrestauransrestoring
3LatinrestauroI restore, rebuild, reestablish, renew
4Latinre-back, backwards; again; prefix added to various...
5Proto-Indo-Europeanwret-—
6Proto-Indo-Europeanwert-to turn, to rotate
7Proto-Indo-Europeanwer-to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel

Words derived from “restaurant”

  • nonrestaurant
  • restauranter
  • restauranteer
  • restauranteering
  • multirestaurant
  • restaurantgoer
  • restaurantland
Every word from Proto-Indo-European wer- →