toque

See also: toqué

English

Etymology 1

English Wikipedia has an article on:

toque

Wikipedia

From Middle French toque (“toque”), from Arabic طَاقِيَّة (ṭāqiyya).

Alternative forms

• touque

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /təʊk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /toʊk/
• Rhymes: -əʊk, -oʊk

Noun

toque (plural toques)

1. A type of hat with no brim.
   • 1824 January, La Belle Assemblée, volume 29, Fashions, page 32:

     Toques are for the most part indented in the mural style, in two rows, between which are placed marabout feathers. Flowers, feathers, ears of corn, in gold or silver: such are the chief ornaments on the heads of young ladies, either as separate decorations or all blended together. Black velvet toques are ornamented with marabout feathers of a light grey, mingled with a few ears of gold corn.

   • 1903, Janet Elder Rait, Alison Howard, Archibald Constable & Co., page 273:

     "Because Esmé said she was going out this afternoon to choose a new toque, and she hoped I should like it, and I’m not quite sure what it is, or where she'll wear it. Do you mind explaining?"
     "Not at all. A toque is that which if it had strings would be a bonnet, and if it had brim, would be a hat. It is worn on the head."
     "Thanks, now I know where I am," said the vicar of St. Machars, with a sigh of relief.

   • 1932, Julien Green, translated by Vyvyan Holland, The Strange River, Harper & Brothers, page 180:

     She drank a glass of wine mixed with water, took off her felt toque and her shoes, and slid beneath the red eiderdown.

   • 1957—Samuel Beckett, "Endgame",

     In a dressing-gown, a stiff toque on his head, a large blood-stained handkerchief over his face, a whistle hanging from his neck, a rug over his knees, thick socks on his feet, Hamm seems to be asleep.

2. (specifically) A tall white hat with no brim of the sort worn by chefs
   • 1999, Michael Ruhlman, The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, Owl Books, →ISBN, page 154:

     Chef Felder was in her early forties, slender, with short wavy brown hair, almost all of which could be contained within her toque.

   • 2000, Jerrilyn Farmer, Killer Wedding, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 103:

     When I came to the back of a man's head, wearing a toque, I knew I'd spotted my quarry.
     "Chef Reynoso?"

   • 2004, Laura Levine, Killer Blonde, Kensington Books, →ISBN, page 114:

     Minutes later, a red-faced man in a chef's toque approached our table.

3. (by extension, informal) A chef.
   • 2007—October, Nicole Berrie, "Green Eggs and Sam", in Elle, page 360,

     Sam Mason first grabbed the spotlight as the pastry chef ... for being the most rock 'n' roll toque in town.

4. A variety of bonnet monkey; toque macaque, Macaca sinica.
5. (historical) An African nominal money of account, equal to 40 cowries.

Translations

rimless hat

Czech: toka f Dutch: toque (nl) m or f French: toque (fr) f Polish: toczek (pl) m, tok (pl) m Russian: ток (ru) m (tok) Swedish: mössa (sv) c

tall white hat worn by chefs

Finnish: kokinhattu French: toque (fr) f German: Kochmütze (de) f Polish: czapka kucharska f Russian: колпа́к (ru) m (kolpák), поварско́й колпа́к m (povarskój kolpák) Swedish: kockmössa (sv) c Turkish: aşçı şapkası

chef — see chef

Macaca sinica

Finnish: lakkimakaki French: toque (fr) m Polish: makak rozczochrany m, makak manga m Russian: цейло́нский мака́к m (cejlónskij makák)

Etymology 2

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Tuque

Wikipedia

1871. Assimilated from Canadian French tuque. Likely to be a hypercorrection from the time that toque was already in the dictionaries when they did not yet list tuque as a kind of hat. The French word tuque for hat is itself not strictly a deformation of French toque: it is also related to other meanings of tuque and to its former name bonnet à la turque (literally “Turkish-style bunnet/cap”).

Alternative forms

• tuque (Canada)

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /tuːk/, /tjuːk/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːk

Noun

toque (plural toques)

1. (Canada) A knitted hat, usually conical but of varying shape, often woollen, and sometimes topped by a pom-pom or tassel.

   Synonyms: beanie, knit cap, stocking cap, watch cap

   • 1998, Douglas Coupland, chapter 1, in Girlfriend in a Coma, page 4:

     Such is the demented nature of the universe that I was too weak to properly respond to my being hit on by carloads of Betties and Veronicas—all except for the cheeky Cheryl Anderson who gave me ‘manual release’ the day I lost my eyebrows, followed by a flood of tears and the snapping of Polaroids in which I wear a knit toque. Gush gush.

   • 2018 March, Laura Bliss, “How WeWork Has Perfectly Captured the Millennial Id”, in The Atlantic‎:

     It was like entering the Millennial id. Craft beer and cucumber water poured from kitchen taps. Laptoppers in jeans and toques clacked along to MGMT in the wood-paneled common area.

Translations

knitted hat — see beanie

See also

• winter hat
• winter toque
• wool hat

References

• Katherine Barber, editor (1998), “toque”, in The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.
• Katherine Barber, editor (1998), “tuque”, in The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.
• “toque”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “tuque”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “toque”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “tuque”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Etymology 3

From Spanish toque.

Noun

toque (countable and uncountable, plural toques)

1. (music) A rhythm used in Latin music, especially Cuban religious rituals.
2. (music) The guitar part of flamenco music.

Anagrams

• quote

Asturian

Etymology 1

Deverbal from tocar.

Noun

toque m (plural toques)

1. touch (an act of touching)
2. touch (the characteristic mode of action)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

toque

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of tocar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of tocar

Further reading

• “toque”, in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana [Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Asturian), 1ª edición, Academia de la Llingua Asturiana, 2000, →ISBN
• Xosé Lluis García Arias (2002–2004), “toque”, in Diccionario general de la lengua asturiana [General Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Spanish), Editorial Prensa Asturiana, →ISBN

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French toque, tocque (“toque", also "a type of hairstyle”), in some senses from Spanish toca (“headdress”) and in other senses from Italian tocca, from Lombard toh, from Lombardic *tuoh, from Proto-West Germanic *dōk (“cloth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɔk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Homophone: toc

Noun

toque f (plural toques)

1. toque (a brimless hat)
2. a pillbox hat
3. (specifically) a type of round brimless hat traditionally worn by certain professions in France, such as university professors or judges
4. toque (a chef's hat)
5. (by extension, informal) a chef
6. (botany) skullcap (Scutellaria)

   Synonym: scutellaire

Derived terms

• toque à feuilles de germandrée
• toque blanchâtre
• toque de jockey
• toque de magistrat
• toquet
• tuque

Noun

toque m (plural toques)

1. toque, a variety of bonnet monkey; toque macaque, Macaca sinica

Verb

toque

1. inflection of toquer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “toque” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
• Nouveau Petit Larousse illustré. Dictionnaire encyclopédique. Paris, Librairie Larousse, 1952, 146th edition
• “toque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Verb

toque

1. inflection of tocar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔ.ki/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔ.ki/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔ.ke/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔ.kɨ/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: to‧que
• Homophone: TOC (Brazil)

Etymology 1

Deverbal from tocar.

Noun

toque m (plural toques)

1. touch, tap

   Synonym: tato

2. ring (of a phone)
3. ringtone (of a mobile phone)
4. stroke
5. (by extension) detail, touch (a distinguishing feature or characteristic)
6. a small quantity
7. advice or warning

Derived terms

• retoque
• toque de recolher
• toque final

Etymology 2

Verb

toque

1. inflection of tocar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “toque”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “toque”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtoke/ [ˈt̪o.ke]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oke
• Syllabification: to‧que

Etymology 1

Deverbal from tocar.

Noun

toque m (plural toques)

1. a touch

   Synonyms: contacto, roce, fricción, palpamiento, tocamiento

2. a strum
3. a toll (musical sound used to announce something)

   Synonyms: tañido, campaneo, campanada, toquido, redoble, repique, timbrazo

4. assay by touchstone
   1. ellipsis of piedra de toque
5. application of topical medication
6. crux

   Synonyms: quid, meollo, esencia, fondo, causa, porqué, razón

7. assessment, trial
8. ellipsis of toque de atención
9. (colloquial) a punch
10. (painting) a light brushstroke
    1. (figurative) soft touch (something handled, or requiring handling with the utmost gentleness)
11. (Cuba) ellipsis of toque de santo
12. (Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay) toke, puff of marijuana
    1. (Puerto Rico, Paraguay, euphemistic) a blunt
13. (Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Chile, Paraguay) snorting (of cocaine)
14. (Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Uruguay, music) live concert

Hyponyms

• toque final (“finishing touch”)

Derived terms

• al toque
• piedra de toque
• toque de atención
• toque de diana
• toque de luz
• toque de queda
• toque del alba
• toque del santo
• último toque

Related terms

• retoque
• tocar

Etymology 2

Verb

toque

1. inflection of tocar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “toque”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “toque”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010