caterer

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈkeɪtərɚ/ UK /ˈkeɪtərə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a person or firm that provides food for events

The caterer set out trays of canapés before the guests arrived.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person or firm that... provider purveyorprovisionersupplier victualler

Word family

Related forms cater catering

Etymology

An agent noun from cater ('to provide food'), itself from Anglo-Norman acater ('to buy'), from Vulgar Latin *accaptare, from Latin ad- ('to') + captare ('to seize, take').

acater Old French captare Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# caterer

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈkeɪtərɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkeɪtərə/

## Meanings
1. a person or firm that provides food for events

## Examples
- The caterer set out trays of canapés before the guests arrived.

## Synonyms
- provider
- purveyor
- provisioner
- supplier
- victualler

## Related Forms
- cater
- catering

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: acater
- Root: captare

## Etymology
An agent noun from cater ('to provide food'), itself from Anglo-Norman acater ('to buy'), from Vulgar Latin *accaptare, from Latin ad- ('to') + captare ('to seize, take').

## AI Etymology
Caterer is an agent noun from cater ('to provide food'), itself from Anglo-Norman acater ('to buy'), from Vulgar Latin *accaptare, from Latin ad- ('to') + captare ('to seize, take'). The historical trail runs through acater in Old French and captare in Latin. Morphologically, caterer is transparent: an agent noun from cater ('to provide food'), itself from Anglo-Norman acater ('to buy'), from Vulgar Latin *accaptare, from Latin ad- ('to') + captare ('to seize, take'). Used as a noun, caterer now means "a person or firm that provides food for events", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as cater and catering. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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