toque

Meaning

Noun

• A type of hat with no brim.
• A tall white hat with no brim of the sort worn by chefs
• A chef.
• A variety of bonnet monkey; toque macaque, Macaca sinica (species).
• An African nominal money of account, equal to 40 cowries.
• A knitted hat, usually conical but of varying shape, often woollen, and sometimes topped by a pom-pom or tassel.
• A rhythm used in Latin music, especially Cuban religious rituals.
• The guitar part of flamenco music.

Origin

• From Middle French toque, from Arabic طَاقِيَّة.
• 1871. Assimilated from Canadian French tuque. Likely to be a hypercorrection from the time that toque was already in the dictionaries when they didn't yet list tuque as a kind of hat. 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 (lit. Turkish-style bunnet/cap).
• From Spanish toque.