greengrocer

C2+ Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈɡrinˌɡroʊsɚ/ UK /ˈɡriːnˌɡrəʊsə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a retailer who sells fruit and vegetables

The greengrocer stacked fresh apples in baskets by the door.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a retailer who sells fruit... fruitererproduce sellercostermonger

Word family

Derived forms greengrocery

Related forms green grocer grocery

Etymology

Compound of green (in the sense 'fresh produce, vegetables') + grocer, from Anglo-French grosser, from Medieval Latin grossarius ('wholesaler'), from Latin grossus ('coarse, large').

grene Middle English grossus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# greengrocer

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

## Meanings
1. a retailer who sells fruit and vegetables

## Examples
- The greengrocer stacked fresh apples in baskets by the door.

## Synonyms
- fruiterer
- produce seller
- costermonger

## Derived Forms
- greengrocery

## Related Forms
- green
- grocer
- grocery

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: grene
- Root: grossus

## Etymology
Compound of green (in the sense 'fresh produce, vegetables') + grocer, from Anglo-French grosser, from Medieval Latin grossarius ('wholesaler'), from Latin grossus ('coarse, large').

## AI Etymology
Greengrocer is traced as follows: Compound of green (in the sense 'fresh produce, vegetables') + grocer, from Anglo-French grosser, from Medieval Latin grossarius ('wholesaler'), from Latin grossus ('coarse, large'). Morphologically, the form is compositional, with the named elements combining to produce the modern spelling and sense. In present use, it is used as a noun meaning "a retailer who sells fruit and vegetables", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes derivatives such as greengrocery and related forms such as green, grocer, and grocery, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Old English grene and Latin grossus, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance. Its semantic neighborhood includes fruiterer, produce seller, and costermonger, locating the modern specialization without adding a new origin story.

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

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