grocery

English

a grocery

Etymology

From French grosserie (“wholesale”). Compare gross.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹəʊsəɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹoʊs(ə)ɹi/, /ˈɡɹoʊʃ(ə)ɹi/

Noun

grocery (plural groceries)

1. (usually groceries) retail foodstuffs and other household supplies.
   • 1776: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

     Where ten thousand pounds can be employed in the grocery trade, the wages of the grocer's labour make but a very trifling addition...

   • 1850, Thomas Carlyle, Latter-Day Pamphlets, The present time

     Did not cotton spin itself, beef grow, and groceries and spiceries come in from the East and the West, quite comfortably by the side of shams?

2. A shop or store that sells groceries; a grocery store.
   • 1854: Henry David Thoreau, Walden

     I observed that the vitals of the village were the grocery, the bar-room, the post-office, and the bank...

Usage notes

When referring to goods, the singular form is primarily used attributively, as in a grocery bill, a grocery list, etc. The plural form, groceries, is much more frequently used to refer to actual goods, especially in the US.

Synonyms

• (retail foodstuffs and household supplies): commodities, general goods, groceries, packaged goods
• (store that sells groceries): general store, grocery store, market, supermarket

Related terms

• greengrocer
• grocer
• groceries

Translations

retail foodstuffs and other household supplies — see groceries

shop or store that sells groceries

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: մթերային խանութ (mtʿerayin xanutʿ)
• Bulgarian: бакалия f (bakalíja)
• Catalan: adrogueria (ca) f, ultramarins (ca) m pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雜貨店 (zh), 杂货店 (zh) (záhuòdiàn), 副食商店 (fùshí shāngdiàn), 食品商店 (shípǐn shāngdiàn)

• Czech: koloniál m, hokynářství (cs) n
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: kruidenier (nl) m
• Faroese: handil m
• Finnish: ruokakauppa (fi), elintarvikekauppa (fi)
• French: épicerie (fr) f
• Georgian: საბაკალეო მაღაზია (sabaḳaleo maɣazia), საბაკალეო საქონლის მაღაზია (sabaḳaleo sakonlis maɣazia), საბაყლო მაღაზია (sabaq̇lo maɣazia)
• German: Lebensmittelladen (de) m, Lebensmittelgeschäft (de) n, Lebensmittelhandlung (de) f
• Greek: μπακάλικο (el) n (bakáliko)
• Gujarati: કરિયાણાની દુકાન (kariyāṇānī dukān)
• Hebrew: מַכֹּלֶת‎‎ (he) f (makólet)
• Hindi: पंसारी की दुकान (pãsārī kī dukān)
• Hungarian: élelmiszerüzlet (hu)
• Ido: spicerio
• Italian: drogheria f, alimentari (it) m

• Japanese: 食料品店 (しょくりょうひんてん, shokuryōhinten), 乾物屋 (かんぶつや, kanbutsuya)
• Korean: 식료품점 (singnyopumjeom)
• Macedonian: бакалница f (bakálnica)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: dagligvarebutikk m, storsenter, landhandel m
• Persian: بقالی‎‎ (fa) (baqqâli)
• Portuguese: armazém, empório, mercado/mercadinhom, quitanda, venda, mercearia f
• Russian: бакале́я (ru) f (bakaléja), продукто́вый магази́н m (produktóvyj magazín), гастроно́м (ru) m (gastronóm)
• Scottish Gaelic: bùth grosaireachd f
• Spanish: abarrotería f (Guatemala, Honduras, Panama), abastecedor m (Costa Rica), abasto m (Venezuela), almacén m (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay), bodega f (Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Venezuela), colmado m (originally Spain - now especially Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico), despensa f (Argentina), pulpería f (Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua), tienda de abarrotes f (Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru), tienda de barrio f (Bolivia), tienda de ultramarinos m (Spain), trucha f (Northern Honduras), abacería (es) f, (Spain) tienda de ultramarinos
• Swedish: livsmedelsaffär (sv) c, livsmedelsbutik (sv) c, mataffär (sv) c
• Tagalog: abaseriya
• Turkish: bakkal (tr)
• Vietnamese: người bán hàng tạp phẩm
• Yiddish: שפּייזקראָם‎‎ (shpeyzkrom)