cachet

an official seal, as on a letter or document; a distinguishing feature: Courtesy is the cachet of a gracious hostess.; superior status; prestige: The diplomatic corps has a certain cachet.

Not to be confused with:

cache – a hiding place; a hidden store of goods: He had a cache of nonperishable food in case of an invasion.

cash – currency or coins: They’d rather have cash than a credit card.

ca·chet

(kă-shā′)

a. Great prestige or appeal: a designer label with cachet.

b. A quality of prestige or appeal: "Federal courts have a certain cachet which state courts lack" (Christian Science Monitor).

c. A mark, as of distinction, individuality, or authenticity: "In our times the thick wad of credit cards is a cachet of respectability" (John D. MacDonald).

2. A seal on a document, such as a letter.

a. A commemorative design stamped on an envelope to mark a postal or philatelic event.

b. A motto forming part of a postal cancellation.

4. A kind of wafer capsule formerly used by pharmacists for presenting an unpleasant-tasting drug.

[French cachet, seal, stamp of authenticity, distinctive character, from Middle French, seal : cacher, to press, squeeze (from Occitan cachar, from Old Provençal, from Latin coāctāre, to constrain; see cache) + -et, diminutive suffix (from Old French; see -et). Sense 4, from French, from the resemblance of the wafer to a wax seal on a document.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cachet

(ˈkæʃeɪ)

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) an official seal on a document, letter, etc

2. a distinguishing mark; stamp

3. prestige; distinction

4. (Philately) philately

a. a mark stamped by hand on mail for commemorative purposes

b. a small mark made by dealers and experts on the back of postage stamps. Compare overprint³, surcharge⁵

5. (Medicine) a hollow wafer, formerly used for enclosing an unpleasant-tasting medicine

[C17: from Old French, from cacher to hide]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ca•chet

(kæˈʃeɪ, ˈkæʃ eɪ)

1. an official seal, as on a letter or document.

2. an official sign of approval.

3. superior status; prestige: a job with a certain cachet.

4. a distinguishing mark or feature.

5. a hollow wafer for enclosing an ill-tasting medicine.

6. a design or other device drawn or printed on an envelope for philatelic purposes, as for a first-day cover.

[1630–40; < French: literally, something compressed to a small size]

Translations

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

cachet

[ˈkæʃeɪ] n (= prestige) (social) [position, place, person] → prestige m; [thing] → cachet m
to have cachet [position, place] → avoir du prestige

cachet

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

cachet

[ˈkæʃeɪ] n

b. (capsule) → cachet m inv