eatery

C2+ Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈitɚi/ UK /ˈiːtəri/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
an informal restaurant or place to eat

They grabbed a quick bite at a roadside eatery.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an informal restaurant or... restaurant diner cafebistrocanteenbrasserie

Word family

Related forms eat eats eatable

Etymology

A colloquial American formation from eat + -ery (as in bakery, brewery), first recorded in the early 20th century.

etan Old English *etaną Proto-Germanic *h₁ed- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink Word Formation & Derivatives Register & Style

External links

# eatery

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈitɚi/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈiːtəri/

## Meanings
1. an informal restaurant or place to eat

## Examples
- They grabbed a quick bite at a roadside eatery.

## Synonyms
- restaurant
- diner
- cafe
- bistro
- canteen
- brasserie

## Related Forms
- eat
- eats
- eatable

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: etan
- Root: *etaną
- Root: *h₁ed-

## Etymology
A colloquial American formation from eat + -ery (as in bakery, brewery), first recorded in the early 20th century.

## AI Etymology
Eatery is a colloquial American formation from eat + -ery (as in bakery, brewery), first recorded in the early 20th century. The ancestry passes through Old English etan, Proto-Germanic *etaną, and Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed-. The suffix -er marks an agent, instrument, or associated person, so the English form is shaped by recognizable word formation as well as by its inherited or borrowed base. In present use as a noun, it means "an informal restaurant or place to eat", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Its colloquial history matters: the word belongs to informal usage before settling into the present dictionary sense. Related words include eat, eats, and eatable.

## Topics
- Food & Drink
- Word Formation & Derivatives
- Register & Style

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