What does gaufre mean?
Gaufre is a noun borrowed from French and best known in North America as a thin, crisp wafer rolled into a cone and filled or topped with ice cream. The word is also used more broadly for a waffle, particularly in menus and discussions of French or Belgian food. A gaufre resembles a waffle in that its batter is cooked in a patterned iron, but its usual English use emphasizes the delicate wafer cone rather than the substantial cake-like form of a waffle. This distinction explains why “gaufre cone” is a familiar collocation in Canada and the United States. The term is useful because it names a specific serving format that a broader word such as “waffle” does not convey. It also retains the culinary associations and international character of its French source while being comfortably established in ordinary English usage.
nounA thin, crisp sweet wafer, especially one rolled into a cone to hold ice cream. In some English uses, it also means a waffle.
- A thin, crisp wafer formed in a patterned iron and commonly rolled into a cone for holding ice cream.
- A waffle, especially when the term is used for a French-style waffle.
"They served the ice cream in a crisp, golden gaufre cone."
"The café's homemade gaufre cone held a generous scoop of coffee ice cream."
"On the menu, gaufre refers to a light Belgian-style waffle."
The standard plural is gaufres, normally written without an accent mark.
"The shop sells chocolate-dipped gaufres in several flavours."
A gaufre turns a single thin wafer into an edible cone, making it one of the cleverest ways to serve ice cream.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of gaufre
The English word is borrowed from French gaufre, the standard French word for a waffle. French gaufre is historically connected with Middle Dutch wafel, from which English waffle was also borrowed; English wafer belongs to the same broader Germanic family. The French term developed in cookery and confectionery contexts before being adopted into English for both waffles and ice-cream wafer cones.
Related word forms
How gaufre is actually used
The word is especially common in Canadian and American English for the rolled wafer cone sold with ice cream. It is also understood in British English, where it can refer more generally to a waffle or crisp wafer.
Easily confused with gaufre
In North American English, a gaufre is usually the thin wafer cone used to hold ice cream, whereas a waffle is the broader grid-patterned cake made from batter.