macchiato

English

Etymology

From Italian caffè macchiato (“stained coffee”), from macchiato (“stained, marked”), as the coffee is “marked” with a spot of milk. From Latin maculātus (“stained”), form of macula (“stain”). Cognate to English macula (“ spot”), French maculé.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌmɑkiˈɑtoʊ/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmækiˈɑːtəʊ/
Rhymes: -ɑːtəʊ
Hyphenation: ma‧cchi‧a‧to

Noun

macchiato (countable and uncountable, plural macchiatos or (rare) macchiati)

Espresso topped with steamed milk.
- 2004, David A Rollins, Sword of Allah, Sydney, N.S.W.: Pan Macmillan Australia, published 2005, →ISBN, page 109:
  Kadar Al-Jahani glanced around at the rich Romans and the American tourists sipping their macchiati and cappuccini, and smiled.
- 2004, Pat Nourse, “Cafés, Bars & Pubs”, in Cath Phillips et al., editors, Time Out Sydney, 4th edition, London: Ebury Publishing, published 2005, →ISBN, page 126, column 1:
  This is a city obsessed by coffee. Sydneysiders can tell their arabica from their robusta, their macchiati from their ristretti, and have been known to follow their favourite barista from café to café.
- 2006 August 12, Rosie Millard, “Leftovers in a Lidl bag – this must be a trip to remember”, in save&spend (The Independent), London, page 6, column 1:
  Janie and I are having a couple of macchiati in Carluccio’s and discussing Judith Levine’s best-seller Not Buying It – A Year Without Shopping.
- 2010, Vladimir Alvarado, Eduardo Manrique, “Preface”, in Enhanced Oil Recovery: Field Planning and Development Strategies, Burlington, Mass.: Gulf Professional Publishing, →ISBN, page vii:
  The book’s contents are for the most part the result of scribbling on napkins over numerous macchiati and espressos away from the office at different posts over the years.
- 2014, Holly Martin, chapter 11, in One Hundred Proposals, Richard, Surrey: CARINA, Harlequin (UK) Limited, published 2015, →ISBN, page 190:
  Yellow cabs whizzed past, horns blared and people didn’t stop moving as they walked briskly down the sidewalks with their steaming cups of macchiato, mobile phones and iPods.
- 2016 November 1, John Ivison, “We have no idea who was rejected”, in Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa, Ont., page NP2, column 5:
  Senior Grits will splutter into their macchiati at the very idea that political bias is at play, pointing out that the latest list includes a former female head of the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs (Gwen Boniface) and the ex-head of the Ontario Securities Commission (Howard Wetston).