bookstore

Etymology

It is formed from English book + store,^[2][3][4] and Dictionary.com marks it as an Americanism.^[4] Here store has its American sense of a shop, recorded by 1721, which grew out of the sense "a place where supplies are kept" (1660s); British English prefers shop.^[2] The OED compares bookshop, first recorded in 1762.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A shop where books are sold: 1760, in the “Pennsylvania Gazette”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its meaning; its first dates vary between dictionaries: 1760 in the OED and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate,^[3][5] 1762 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[6] 1763 in Etymonline^[2] and 1755–65 in Dictionary.com.^[4]

Timeline

• 1760 – a shop where books are sold, in the “Pennsylvania Gazette”.^[3][5]
• 1762 – bookshop first recorded, in the “London Register”.^[3]
• 1763 – Etymonline's first date.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shop where books are sold: They met at a bookstore near the station.^[7][6][8][3]

Related words

• bookshop

Usage notes

Collins treats bookstore as another name for bookshop,^[8] and Merriam-Webster gives bookshop as the less common word.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins