Grocery usually refers to food and household items sold in a store, and often also to the store itself, like a grocery store. It includes everyday things like milk, bread, and soap.
From Anglo-French “grossier,” a merchant who sold things in bulk, from Medieval Latin “grossarius.” Over time it narrowed from a bulk dealer to a seller of food and household goods.
Originally, a grocer was a dealer in “gross” quantities—large, bulk amounts of goods. The word shrank from big loads of spices and supplies to the everyday food in your neighborhood grocery store.
Grocery shopping and food provision have historically been feminized domestic labor, often unpaid or undervalued. Language around groceries and household errands has sometimes framed them as women’s natural responsibility.
Avoid assuming women are the default grocery shoppers; use neutral phrasing like “whoever is doing the shopping” or “household members.”
["food shopping","provisions","supplies"]
When discussing domestic labor, note women’s disproportionate unpaid work in tasks like grocery shopping and how this has supported broader economies.
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