different between waiter vs waitron

English

Etymology

Late 14th century, "attendant, watchman," agent noun from the verb wait +? -er. Sense of "servant who waits at tables" is from late 15th century, originally in reference to household servants; in reference to inns, eating houses, etc., it is attested from 1660s. Feminine form waitress first recorded 1834.

The London Stock Exchange sense harks back to the early days of trading in coffee-shops.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?we?t?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?we?t?/
• Rhymes: -e?t?(?)
• Hyphenation: wait?er

Noun

waiter (plural waiters, feminine waitress)

1. A male or female attendant who serves customers at their tables in a restaurant, café or similar.

2. Someone who waits for somebody or something; a person who is waiting.
   • 2013, Siciliani Luigi, Borowitz Michael, Moran Valerie, OECD Health Policy Studies: Waiting Time Policies in the Health Sector

     However, the NTPF also contained implicit negative incentives for the public sector by offering alternative private sector treatment for the longest waiters at no extra cost to patients or no penalty to public providers.

3. A person working as an attendant at the London Stock Exchange.
4. (obsolete) A vessel or tray on which something is carried, as dishes, etc.; a salver. (See etymology of dumbwaiter.)
5. (obsolete) A custom house officer; a tide waiter.
6. (obsolete) A watchman.

Derived terms

• coast waiter
• dumbwaiter
• landwaiter
• tide waiter

Related terms

• wait
• waitress

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ????? (u?t?)

Translations

See also

• barista
• bartender
• maître d'
• server

References

Old French

Verb

waiter

1. (Old Northern French, Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of gaitier

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ts, *-tt are modified to z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (waiter)

English

Etymology 1

Coined as a gender-neutral substitute for waiter and waitress, this is one of the few words with the gender-neutral suffix -ron to have seen much use, probably re-inforced by rhyming with patron. (Some references instead analyse it as using the same "machinelike" suffix -tron as waitron (“mechanical waiter”), but more likely it uses -ron like laundron and like waiter and waitress use -er/-ress not *-ter/*-tress.)

Noun

waitron (plural waitrons)

1. (nonstandard, rare) A waiter or waitress.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:waitron.

Synonyms

• waitperson
• waitstaff (collective)
• server

References

Etymology 2

From waiter +? -tron.

Noun

waitron (plural waitrons)

1. (dated, science fiction) A robotic or mechanical waiter.