cachet

See also: Cachet

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French cachet, first appearing in Scottish English, from 1630.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kæˈʃeɪ/, /ˈkæʃ.eɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æʃeɪ

Noun

cachet (countable and uncountable, plural cachets)

1. (archaic) A seal, as of a letter.
2. (figurative) A special characteristic or quality; prestige, especially via association.

   Synonyms: charm, je ne sais quoi, magic touch, oomph, zing

   I remember when this diner was a quiet hangout, but lately it seems to be losing its cachet.

   • 1993, Bruce Quarrie, Waffen-SS Soldier: 1940–45‎^[1], page 12:

     In fact, within the Waffen-SS as a whole, the carrying of a personal weapon such as a pistol or a submachine-gun in addition to or instead of the issue rifle became something of a cachet.

   • 2005, David Horowitz, The Shadow Party‎^[2], page 206:

     He told Bai, "When you go out and talk to them, people are much more interested in something like MoveOn.org than in the Democratic Party. It has cachet. There is no cachet in the Democratic Party. […] "

   • 2010, Peter H. Gleick, Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, unnumbered page:

     This class of bottled water dominates the U.S. market and consumers seem to prefer the cachet of spring water to processed municipal waters.

   • 2010, Maryjean Wall, How Kentucky Became Southern‎^[3], page 176:

     Men like Jerome, Belmont, and Travers thought they would accomplish this by lending their social approval and cachet to the sport, thereby giving it the appearance of wholesomeness.

   • 2022, W. David Marx, chapter 3, in Status and Culture, Viking, →ISBN:

     Cachet powers the often elusive concept “cool”; nothing can be cool without associations to particular groups of high-status individuals, namely, musicians, celebrities, and popular teens.

3. (philately) A commemorative stamped design or inscription on an envelope, other than a cancellation or pre-printed postage.
   • 2011, Jerry Lewis Champion Jr., The Fading Voices of Alcatraz‎^[4], page 160:

     The Alcatraz pelican cachet turned out to have a unique history of its own which had been lost over the years. Master cachet designer and artist John Coulthard (1903-1966) of 17 Elm Street Modesto, California, was the creator of the stamp.

4. A sealed envelope containing an item whose price is being negotiated.
   • 2011, Alicia Oltuski, Precious Objects: A Story of Diamonds, Family, and a Way of Life, page 47:

     The most romantic rite of bargaining is the cachet; even its name suggests a thrilling secrecy. The cachet is used when a broker negotiates the sale of a diamond.

5. (medicine) A capsule containing a pharmaceutical preparation.
   • 1907, Pharmaceutical Journal, volume 79, page 101:

     In order to facilitate taking by the patient, powders are often ordered to be dispensed in cachets.

   • 1915, American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record, volume 63, page 237:

     One cachet on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, a second in one and a half hours, a third in one hour afterwards, and a fourth two hours later.

6. A hidden location from which one can observe birds while remaining unseen.
   • 1901, Henry Seebohm, The Birds of Siberia, published 2011, page 81:

     On my way back to my cachet I met another party of reed-buntings, one of which I bagged; then I sat in my hiding-place for an hour, waiting for geese that never came within range.

Usage notes

Sometimes confused with cache.

Related terms

• lettre de cachet

Translations

archaic: a seal

• German: Gütesiegel (de) m
• Turkish: damga (tr), kaşe (tr) mühür (tr)

a special characteristic or quality; prestige

• Czech: prestiž (cs) f
• German: Prestige (de) n
• Turkish: prestij (tr)

Verb

cachet (third-person singular simple present cachets, present participle cacheting, simple past and past participle cacheted)

1. (transitive, philately) To mark (an envelope) with a commemorative stamped design or inscription.

Further reading

• Cachet (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From cacher +‎ -et.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.ʃɛ/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

cachet m (plural cachets)

1. seal
2. pill
3. cachet

Derived terms

• blanc comme un cachet d’aspirine
• lettre de cachet

Related terms

• caché
• cacheter

Descendants

• → Portuguese: cachê, caché, cachet (unadapted form)
• → Turkish: kaşe
• → Vietnamese: cát-xê

Further reading

• “cachet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• catche, catché

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French cachet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaʃˈʃɛ/^*, /kaʃˈʃe/^*
• Rhymes: -ɛ, -e

Noun

cachet m (invariable)

1. tablet, capsule (medical)
2. fee
3. rinse (coloured/colored, for the hair)

Anagrams

• tacche

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈkaχɛt/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈkaːχɛt/, /ˈkaχɛt/

Verb

cachet

1. second-person singular conditional colloquial of cachu

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cachet	gachet	nghachet	chachet
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.