What does "barista" mean?

A person who prepares coffee in a coffee shop for customers.

What is a synonym for "barista"?

Common synonyms include: bartender.

Pronounced //bəˈɹiːs.tə//.

//bəˈɹiːs.tə// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A person who prepares coffee in a coffee shop for customers.
""From behind the counter of this provincial train station coffee shop, Joanna was barista and unofficial shrink to wildly varied London-bound travellers," writes author Laline Paull. Confessions of a Barista on Platform 1 was published on February 9 by The Firle Press [...]."

Verb

1
To work as a barista.
"I helped out in the business while I was at school—we all did, whether it was washing up or baristaing or clearing the tables for Dad and washing them down when the shop closed—but this one night I was meant to be working a late shift when I had a chance to play in a concert. […] Are you still OK for another half-hour lesson on baristaing, tonight? […] ‘It’s advanced baristaing—an extra,’ he admitted."

"Tom's consumption of coffee doubled after he became captivated by the stunning beauty of the barista at the coffee shop near his office."

Borrowed from Italian barista (“bartender”, literally “barist”), from bar (from English bar) + -ista (“-ist”); compare barman.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.