ENGLISH
REFERENCE

java

n. uncountable
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈdʒɑvə// UK //dʒˈɑːvɐ// ja·va Informal

n. a hot cup of coffee. It is a casual way to talk about your morning drink.

n. a slang or informal term for coffee, derived from the Indonesian island where coffee was historically grown.


SIMPLE

I need a fresh cup of java before I start work.

CONTEXTUAL

The local café is famous for serving the strongest java in the neighborhood.

COMPLEX

While some prefer tea to start their morning, he finds that only a steaming mug of java provides the necessary caffeine to tackle a long day of meetings.

Synonyms
Origin

Borrowed from Javanese Jawa, via Franco-Italian and Latin, possibly from Sanskrit यव-द्वीप (yava-dvīpa, “island of barley”), used in reference to the coffee grown on Java and nearby islands since at least 1850. The programming language (initially called Oak) is a reference to java, the blend of coffee from the island.

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