# grocery store



## kloie

How would one say Grocery store in your language?
A grocery store is where one buys food uncooked.


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## mataripis

Same in Filipino but in Tagalog it is "Pamilihan". or Talipapa or Aplaya.


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## SuperXW

In China (PRC), we usually buy uncooked food from: 
a. supermarkets 超级市场/超市
b. street markets 市场
In our concept, a "grocery store" sells not only uncooked food, but also other stuffs. Just it's not as big as a supermarket, usually run by a single boss or a family.
Those selling household items are called 杂货铺.
Those selling mainly snacks are called 小卖铺.
Anyway, 商店 can refer to any "store".


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## arielipi

Hebrew
מכולת makolet
צרכניה tzarchanaiyah


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## sound shift

In BrE, we say "a grocer's" or "a grocer's shop", but there are few such places left in Britain in this supermarket age, so many of us, myself included, never use either term.


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

(1) *«Μπακάλικο»* [ba'kaliko] (neut.) < Turkish bakkallık.
(2) *«Παντοπωλείο»* [pandopo'li.o] (neut.) --> the Modern Gr. rendering of Tur._ bakkallık_ < Classical Gr. neut. noun *«παντοπώλιον» păntŏpṓlīŏn* --> _place where all sorts of things are for sale, general market_ < compound form *«παντο-» pantŏ-* of Classical Gr. adj. *«πᾶς» pâs* --> _whole, all, every_ (PIE *ph₂-ent-, _all_) + Classical Gr. v. *«πωλέω/πωλῶ» pōléō (uncontracted) / pōlô (contracted)* --> _to offer for sale, sell_ (with uncertain etymology).

 (2) is considered formal, (1) is a colloquialism and old name (almost obsolete). Both names (and stores) however, have been replaced nowadays by supermarket = *«σουπερμάρκετ»* [super'marcet] (neut.) or *«υπεραγορά»* [iperaɣo'ra] (fem.)***. 

***Fem. noun *«υπεραγορά»* [iperaɣo'ra] --> Greek calque ofEng._ supermarket_ < compound, Classical adverb, preposition, and prefix *«ὑπέρ» hūpér* --> _over, above measure, beyond_ (PIE *uper(i)-, _over, above_) + Classical fem. noun *«ἀγορὰ» ăgŏrà* --> _gathering, assembly, market, trade_ (PIE *h₂ger-, _to gather_)


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## ahmedcowon

In Arabic:

بقالة /biqāla/ which means "beans\legumes shop" and the person who works in it is بقال /baqqāl/.


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## Maroseika

ahmedcowon said:


> In Arabic:
> 
> بقالة /biqāla/ which means "beans\legumes shop" and the person who works in it is بقال /baqqāl/.



*In Russian* there is a word originating from this Arabic one - бакалея [bakaleya]. It was coined thru Turkish (bakkal - grocer).
However in Russian the sense of the word is narrower than "grocery store" and closer to the original. Namely it refers to the stores selling dry products like tea, coffe, sugar, spices, flour, cereals, dried fruit etc.

As for proper grocery store (if it is where you can buy other products like cheese, flesh, fish, canned food etc) this is just продуктовый магазин (lit. products store).


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## sakvaka

*Finnish*: _ruokakauppa_ (food store)


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## Rallino

> (1) *«Μπακάλικο»* [ba'kaliko] (neut.) < Turkish bakkallık.



This is most interesting! We call it _bakkal_. And _bakkallık _*could* grammatically be used to refer to the profession, however it sounds quite unnatural. Is it possible that Greek just added a diminutive suffix to the word?


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## DearPrudence

In *France*, there are disappearing too, replaced by supermarkets.
But it would be: "*une épicerie*" (< "épices" : spices)


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## apmoy70

Rallino said:


> This is most interesting! We call it _bakkal_. And _bakkallık _*could* grammatically be used to refer to the profession, however it sounds quite unnatural. Is it possible that Greek just added a diminutive suffix to the word?


Ah, so it's from bakkal, which makes *«μπακάλικο»* a hybrid word then, because the -iko part is the Greek productive ending *«-ικος»* [-ikos] (masc.), *«-ικη»* [-ici] (fem.), *«-ικο»* [-iko] (neut.) that forms words suggesting properties/qualities/characteristics (PIE *i-ko-) e.g *«ανατολή»* [anato'li] (fem.) --> _east_ > *«ανατολικός»* [anatoli'kos] (masc.) --> _eastern, of the east_; *«φόνος»* ['fonos] (masc.) --> _murder_ > *«φονικό»* [foni'ko] (neut.) --> _deadly, murderous_.
By the way we do have borrowed from Turkish the suffix -lık, which we use in the colloquial language as a word-forming element meaning quality/condition/skill/office e.g. *«υπουργός»* [ipur'ɣos] (masc. & fem.) --> _minister_ > *«υπουργιλίκι»* [ipurʝi'lici] (neut.) --> _ministership;_ often we use it to give derogatory, insulting or disrespectful meaning: *«βεντέτα»* [vendeta] (fem.) --> _a celebrity_ (from Italian _vedetta_) > *«βεντετιλίκι»* [vendeti'lici] (neut.) --> _behaviour of a spoiled star_


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## ThomasK

I am sorry, I had missed this question. In Dutch it used to be the *kruidenier *(_kruiden _referring to herbs), which reminds me of French _épicerie_, spice shop. The English word seems to refer to selling in gross only, if we can believe etymonline.com.

Funny that you call it a provider of un-cooked food. I quite understand, but when I check on the original meaning in Dutch, it refers to dried food (as our shops started as spice shops, I suppose).  Anyone who knows more about the background of groceries? Maybe they came into existence as a result of the import of foreign, colonial goods...

BTW: _bakal _was mentioned in this thread (see #23-32).


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## 810senior

In Japanese: 食料品店shokuryouhin ten = the store for grocery


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## marco_2

In Polish: *sklep spożywczy *("pożywienie" is a formal word for "food" and "spożywać" means: "to consume".


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## ger4

In German we have some lengthy compounds... _Lebensmittelladen_ or _Lebensmittelgeschäft_ (_Lebensmittel_ is a formal word for 'food', _Geschäft_ and _Laden_ mean 'shop'). A more informal term for a small grocery store (or something like a 'corner shop' in England, perhaps) is _Tante-Emma-Laden_ (lit. 'Aunt Emma's shop'). Of course most people do their shopping in _Supermärkten_ (supermarkets) nowadays.


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## ThomasK

810senior said:


> In Japanese: 食料品店shokuryouhin ten = the store for grocery


Could you comment a little on the origin of your 'grocery' word? 


SuperXW said:


> In China (PRC), we usually buy uncooked food from:
> a. supermarkets 超级市场/超市
> b. street markets 市场
> In our concept, a "grocery store" sells not only uncooked food, but also other stuffs. Just it's not as big as a supermarket, usually run by a single boss or a family.
> Those selling household items are called 杂货铺.
> Those selling mainly snacks are called 小卖铺.
> Anyway, 商店 can refer to any "store".


Two years late, but could you provide us with some explanation as for the signs, SuperXW?


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## 810senior

ThomasK said:


> Could you comment a little on the origin of your 'grocery' word?



Actually Japanese doesn't have a special own word for _grocery _in English. (we might commonly say スーパー_supaa _when we want to mention the grocery, loaned from an English word _supermarket_)
As I write it down more concisely, that word can be translated into 食料雑貨(店)_syokuryou zakka(ten)_, a store for foods and sundries.

syokuryou = foods(syoku=to eat, ryou=items)
zakka = sundries(zak(also written as zatsu)=miscellaneous, ka=goods)
ten = a store


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## ThomasK

Thanks a lot!


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## AutumnOwl

_*Swedish:*
Livsmedelsaffär/livsmedelsbuti_k (liv - life; medel - means, aid)
_Matvaruaffärmede_l (mat - food; vara - product, commodity)


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## Ífaradà

*Norwegian:*
Dagligvare/dagligvarebutikk. (Daily product store).


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## ThomasK

How about a grocery store - or something the like - in Yoruba? I can imagine there are no real groceries, but I suppose there will be some kind of stores, where food of some kinds is being sold perhaps?


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## Ífaradà

ThomasK said:


> How about a grocery store - or something the like - in Yoruba? I can imagine there are no real groceries, but I suppose there will be some kind of stores, where food of some kinds is being sold perhaps?


Yes, you are right. The most accurate term for a grocery store would be: *ilé onjẹ ìtajà *(lit. home of the profession of food selling).

Ilé – home, onjẹ – food, ìtajà (ì – profession prefix, ta – from ta: to sell, jà – from ọjà: market) – selling.

Super market is simply ilé ìtajà, as it is not specifically limited to food only, and also refers to a somewhat closed off location, unlike ọjà (markets) which are mostly open-air areas.


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