different between grocery vs commodity

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?????s(?)?i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???o?s(?)?i/, /???o??(?)?i/

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

Verb

grocery (third-person singular simple present groceries, present participle grocerying, simple past and past participle groceried)

1. (intransitive) To go grocery shopping.
2. (transitive) To furnish with groceries.

References

English

Alternative forms

• commoditie (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English commoditee, from Anglo-Norman commoditee, from Latin commodit?s.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /k??m?d?ti/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k??m?d?ti/

Noun

commodity (countable and uncountable, plural commodities)

1. Anything movable (a good) that is bought and sold. [from 15th c.]
   • 1995, James G. Carrier, Gifts and Commodities: Exchange and Western Capitalism Since 1700, p.122

     If a key part of shopping is the conversion of anonymous commodities into possessions, shopping is a cultural as much as an economic activity.

   • 2001, Rachel Pain, Introducing Social Geographies, p.26

     In human geography "commodities" usually refers to goods and services which are bought and sold. The simplest commodities are those produced by the production system just before they are sold.

   • 2005, William Leiss, Botterill, Jacki, Social Communication in Advertising: Consumption in the Mediated Marketplace, p.307

     • Referring to the work of Bourdieu, Zukin (2004,38) notes that shopping is much more than the purchase of commodities

2. Something useful or valuable. [from 15th c.]
   • 2008, Jan. 14th, Somerset County Gazette

     And Slade said: "It really makes me sad that football club chairmen and boards seem to have lost that most precious commodity - patience. "Sam's sacking at Newcastle had, I suppose, been on the cards for a while, but it is really ridiculous to fire a manager after such a short time.

3. (economics) Raw materials, agricultural and other primary products as objects of large-scale trading in specialized exchanges.

4. (marketing) Undifferentiated goods characterized by a low profit margin, as distinguished from branded products.

5. (Marxism) Anything which has both a use-value and an exchange-value.
6. (obsolete) Convenience; usefulness, suitability. [15th-19th c.]
7. (obsolete) Self-interest; personal convenience or advantage. [16th-19th c.]
   • , NYRB, 2001, vol.1, p.321:

     they commonly respect their own ends, commodity is the steer of all their action […].

Derived terms

• commodityism

Translations

Spanish

Noun

commodity m (plural commoditys)

1. commodity