Lagniappe
noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 An extra or unexpected gift or benefit, such as that given to customers when they purchase something. Louisiana, Trinidad-and-Tobago
"Lefe had been successful, and was supposed to have amassed quite a "pile," which he was very loth indeed to part with; and when he lost, if the money were not absolutely staked, would usually put off the winner with some old horse that he had fixed up for sale, or a dubious note that he had received as "lanyappe," (Anglice, boot money.)"
- 2 a small gift (especially one given by a merchant to a customer who makes a purchase) wordnet
Example
More examples"Lefe had been successful, and was supposed to have amassed quite a "pile," which he was very loth indeed to part with; and when he lost, if the money were not absolutely staked, would usually put off the winner with some old horse that he had fixed up for sale, or a dubious note that he had received as "lanyappe," (Anglice, boot money.)"
Etymology
From Cajun French lagniappe, from Spanish la ñapa, a variant of yapa (“small gift or additional quantity given to a valued customer”), from Quechua yapa (“addition, increase, supplement; lagniappe”), yapay (“to add, to increase”).
Related phrases
More for "lagniappe"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.