Sommelier If you want to impress your dining companions at a | Word Czar 🌍

Sommelier

If you want to impress your dining companions at a fancy restaurant, be sure to refer to the special waiter who serves wine as a sommelier.

You're unlikely to see a sommelier unless you eat at an expensive restaurant where there is a carefully selected menu of wine chosen by the sommelier to complement the food. She will also serve and pour the wine into glasses, and often wait for the diners to taste and approve of it.

In French, the word sommelier literally means "butler," and it's been used since the 19th century to mean "wine steward" or "wine waiter."