Definition of RESTAURATEUR

Restaurateur Has French Roots

Restaurateur and restaurant were borrowed directly from related French words, and both ultimately derive from the Latin word restaurare ("to restore"). Restaurateur is the older of the two; our earliest evidence dates it to 1793. Restaurant is only slightly newer; it dates to 1806. Of the two words, restaurant is of course significantly more common—a fact that may have influenced the development of the variant spelling restauranteur for restaurateur. Restauranteur first appeared a mere 44 years after restaurateur, but it is considered by many to be an error. It is, however, a standard variant, albeit one that continues to be used less frequently than restaurateur.

Examples of restaurateur in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Photo: Ed Alcock / M.Y.O.P. for The Wall Street Journal Ms. Damas grew up in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, and her father, the chef and restaurateur Philippe Damas, owned the famed Le Square Trousseau restaurant. — Ray A. Smith, WSJ, "Jeanne Damas Offers French Chic for the Instagram Age," 7 Sep. 2018 Last year parks and wildlife cited Houston chef and restaurateur Bruce Molzan with purchasing large quantities of illegally caught fish from a network of about a dozen unlicensed commercial fishermen. — Greg Morago, Houston Chronicle, "Houston restaurants, fish markets cited for illegally purchasing game fish," 17 Apr. 2018 But city leaders insist the project has led other hotels, commercial investors and restaurant owners — including Louisville's star chef and restaurateur Edward Lee — to jump in with their own plans. — Grace Schneider, The Courier-Journal, "Merchants are banking on the Omni Louisville Hotel to set off a new downtown boom," 5 Mar. 2018 Will Sedona chef and restaurateur Lisa Dahl be as lucky? — Gwen Ashley Walters, azcentral, "Will one of Sedona's best chefs 'Beat Bobby Flay' on Food Network? Tune in May 24," 6 Feb. 2018 Here's a little more about those fabulous farm-to-table chefs helping with this project: Frank Stitt, James Beard award-winning chef and restaurateur, has changed the culinary landscape of Birmingham, Alabama. — Country Living, "#5 Meet The Dream Team, Part Two," 3 June 2011 Salt Bae, whose real name is Nusret Gökçe, is a butcher, chef, and restaurateur from Turkey. — Gaby Del Valle, Vox, "Why is Marco Rubio tweeting about Salt Bae?," 18 Sep. 2018 He and the rest of the team asked for advice from people in the dining industry, and pitched well-known chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud after guessing his e-mail address. — Andy Rosen, BostonGlobe.com, "The robots are coming — to cook you a healthy grain bowl," 24 Apr. 2018 Ramsay is joined by judges Christina Tosi and renowned pastry chef and restaurateur Joe Bastianich. — Susan Selasky, Detroit Free Press, "Hunting Woods' Sammy Vieder one of final 12 on 'MasterChef Junior'," 20 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'restaurateur.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.