confectionery
/kənˈfek.ʃə.nəri/ IELTSAcademic
noun
Sweet foods such as sweets, chocolates, and other sugar-based treats. It can also mean a shop that sells these foods.
- The children bought confectionery after school.
- This shop sells local confectionery.
- She works in confectionery.
Adinary Nuance
Confectionery is more general and formal than sweet or candy. It often appears in shop names, business writing, and labels for the product category. Use sweets in British everyday speech, and candy in American English, but use confectionery for the whole group or the trade.
In other languages
- Vietnamese
- bánh kẹo
- Spanish
- dulces
- Chinese
- 糖果
- Japanese
- 菓子
- Korean
- 과자
Etymology
Confectionery comes from confection, which entered English from Latin confectionem, meaning 'something made up' or 'prepared'. It has been used in English for sweets and sweet shops since the 1600s.
Common phrases
confectionery shopconfectionery industrypackaged confectioneryfine confectionery
Synonyms
Related words
Frequently asked questions
- Is confectionery formal or informal?
- It is more formal than sweets or candy. You often see it in writing, shop names, and business contexts.
- What is the difference between confectionery and sweets?
- Sweets is the everyday word for small sweet foods. Confectionery is a wider, more formal word for that whole category.
- Can confectionery mean a shop?
- Yes. It can mean a shop that sells sweets, chocolates, and similar treats.