tavern

See also: Tavern

English

Etymology

From Middle English taverne, from Old French taverne (“wine shop”), from Latin taberna (“inn”). Doublet of taberna and taverna.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtævən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtævəɹn/
• Rhymes: -ævə(ɹ)n
• Hyphenation: tav‧ern

Noun

tavern (plural taverns)

1. (dated) A building containing a bar licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, and offering sleeping accommodations for travelers.

   Synonyms: inn; see also Thesaurus:pub

   • c. 1590 (date written), [John Lyly], Mother Bombie. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii:

     I maruell I heare no nevves of Dromio, either hee ſlackes the matter, or betraies his Maiſter, I dare not motion anie thing to Stellio, till I knovv vvhat my boy hath don, Ile hunt him out, if the loiterſacke be gone ſpringing into a Tauerne, Ile fetch him reeling out.

   • 1859, Omar Khayyam, “(please specify the quatrain number in uppercase Roman numerals)”, in [Edward FitzGerald], transl., Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, the Astronomer-Poet of Persia. […], facsimile edition, London: Bernard Quaritch, […], →OCLC, page 1:

     Dreaming when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky / I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, / "Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup / Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry."

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “The Select Circle”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 46:

     At half-past nine on this Saturday evening the parlor of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for the select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 201:

     At one of the way-stations on his long journey a barmaid at a tavern speaks to Gilgamesh and tries to give him common sense on the human condition.

2. A restaurant or bar.

Derived terms

• tavern-cut
• tavern fool
• tavernous
• tavern sandwich
• tavern stand
• tavern-style

 

Translations

bar

• Albanian: mriz (sq) m, bujtinë (sq) f
• Arabic: حَانَة f (ḥāna)
• Armenian: պանդոկ (hy) (pandok)
• Bulgarian: механа (bg) n (mehana)
• Catalan: taverna f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 酒館／酒馆 (zh) (jiǔguǎn), 酒店 (zh) (jiǔdiàn), 客棧／客栈 (zh) (kèzhàn) (inn)

• Coptic: ⲧⲁⲃⲓⲣⲛⲟⲛ m (tabirnon)
• Czech: hostinec (cs) m, krčma (cs) f
• Dutch: taverne (nl) f
• Esperanto: drinkejo, taverno, gastejo
• Finnish: kapakka (fi), kievari (fi), taverna (fi), pubi (fi), ravintola (fi)
• French: taverne (fr) f
• Galician: taberna (gl) f, tasca (gl) f, baiuca (gl) f
• German: Gasthaus (de) n, Schankwirtschaft (de) f, Wirtshaus (de) n, Taverne (de) f (dated)
• Greek: ταβέρνα (el) f (tavérna), καπηλειό (el) n (kapileió)

  Ancient: καπηλεῖον n (kapēleîon), λέσχη f (léskhē)

• Hungarian: csárda (hu), kocsma (hu)
• Icelandic: krá (is) f, knæpa f
• Ido: taverno (io)
• Ingrian: kabakka, portteri
• Irish: teach tábhairne m, teach óil m, teach ósta m
• Italian: taverna (it) f, osteria (it) f, birreria (it) f
• Japanese: 居酒屋 (ja) (いざかや, izakaya), タバーン (tabān), 酒場 (ja) (さかば, sakaba)
• Khmer: ភោជនាគារ (km) (pʰoucea’niekie)
• Korean: 주막 (ko) (jumak), 술집 (ko) (suljip)
• Latin: caupōna (la) f, taberna (la) f, (low-grade) canaba f
• Macedonian: крчма f (krčma), гостилница f (gostilnica), биртија f (birtija)
• Maori: pāparakāuta
• Norwegian: kro m, taverna m
• Osage: hpéeceniihci
• Ottoman Turkish: میخانه (meyhane), شربتخانه (şerbethane)
• Plautdietsch: Schenkj f
• Polabian: kraug m
• Polish: tawerna (pl) f, karczma (pl) f, austeria (pl) f (archaic)
• Portuguese: taberna (pt) f
• Romanian: bodegă (ro) f, berărie (ro) f, braserie (ro) f
• Russian: бар (ru) m (bar) (Western style), каба́к (ru) m (kabák) (dated or pejorative), тракти́р (ru) m (traktír), таве́рна (ru) f (tavérna) (in Southern Europe), заку́сочная (ru) f (zakúsočnaja), пивна́я (ru) f (pivnája), корчма́ (ru) f (korčmá) (dated, in Belarus or Ukrainе)
• Scottish Gaelic: taigh-seinnse m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: krčma (sh) f, ugostionica f, gostionica (sh) f

• Slovak: krčma (sk) f
• Slovene: gostilna f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kjarcma f

  Upper Sorbian: korčma f

• Spanish: taberna (es) f
• Swedish: gästgiveri (sv) n, krog (sv) c
• Tagalog: taberna
• Turkish: içki yeri, meyhane (tr)
• Ukrainian: корчма f (korčma) (dated), кнайпа f (knajpa), пивна́ f (pyvná), пивни́ця f (pyvnýcja), шинок (šynok) (archaic), бар (uk) (bar), паб (pab), генде́лик m (hendélyk)
• Vietnamese: tửu quán (vi)
• Welsh: tafarn (cy), cyrfdy m

Further reading

• “tavern”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “tavern”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “tavern”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

Middle English

Noun

tavern

1. Alternative form of taverne