In what year did the word “waffle” first appear in English? The word “waffle” first appeared in English in 1725.
The date comes from Robert Smith’s cookbook Court Cookery: Or, The Compleat English Cook, printed in 1725. The book includes a recipe headed “Waffles,” making it an early recorded English use of the food term. “First appeared” means the earliest known written example, not necessarily the moment English speakers first used the word aloud.
The English word came from Dutch wafel, which is related to Middle Dutch wafele and older Germanic words associated with a honeycomb or woven pattern. The name fits the gridded surface created by the cooking iron. Waffles themselves are much older than the English spelling: related foods and waffle irons existed in Europe for centuries before 1725.
The date can be confused with other meanings of “waffle.” The verb meaning to talk at length or indecisively has a separate history and is not the food word’s origin. Nor does 1725 mark the invention of waffles; it marks an early English-language record of the name.