Plural of boutique; small, fashionable shops specializing in particular types of clothing or goods, often with a curated selection.
From French 'boutique,' derived from Italian 'bottega' (workshop), which comes from Latin 'apoteca' (storehouse), showing how retail vocabulary traveled through European languages.
The term 'boutique' became chic in the 1960s when European fashion designers opened small shops emphasizing personal style over mass production—it literally meant rejecting the department store model.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.