Java
Americannoun
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the main island of Indonesia. 51,032 sq. mi. (132,173 sq. km).
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(usually lowercase) coffee.
a cup of java.
noun
noun
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Java is one of the world's most densely populated regions.
It was under Dutch rule from 1619 to 1949.
Etymology
Origin of Java
1550–60; of obscure origin; possibly from Sanskrit yāvadvīpa, yāvaka dvīpa “barley island” (the island was well known for the barley plant)
Explanation
Java is an informal word for "coffee," so the next time you go out for breakfast, you can jauntily order a cup of java. In North America, java has been slang for "coffee" since about 1850. Java is a coffee-producing region of what was then the Dutch East Indies and is now Indonesia, and while the term originally referred to coffee grown in Java, by the 20th century it was shorthand for any coffee. If you use this word these days, you're just as likely to be talking about the computer programming language called Java.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hundreds of people descended on a girls' boarding school in the Indonesian village of Tlogosari, Central Java on 2 May, shouting chants and waving banners.
From BBC • May 13, 2026
The death toll from multiple landslides in Indonesia's Java island last week has risen to 30, as the search to find many still missing continues, a disaster official said.
From Barron's • Nov. 21, 2025
Clouds of ash and gas rise above Mount Semeru on Indonesia's main island of Java after eruptions force officials to raise the alert status to its highest level.
From Barron's • Nov. 19, 2025
Home in the wild for the small Silvery Gibbon is the rainforests of Java in Indonesia.
From Barron's • Oct. 31, 2025
In the early nineteenth century Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore, while supervising the British occupation of Java sent two gamelan sets back to Britain, housed today in the British Museum.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.