pantry

UK/ˈpantɹi/US/ˈpæntɹi/

nounB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,383 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: pantries

A pantry is the small storage room where dry food and jars wait their turn. Check the pantry, a walk-in pantry, the pantry shelf.

It was traditionally built on the cold north side of a house with a stone shelf and a vent, so it worked before refrigeration and still keeps things better than a warm cupboard. The name comes from the Latin for bread — a pantry was the bread store.

Definitions of pantry

1nounpantryA small room for storing food.B1+
“We keep rice, pasta and tins of soup in the pantry.”
- Said"Check the pantry; I'm sure we've got another tin of tomatoes somewhere."
- WrittenThe pantries of old houses were built on the north wall, where the sun never reached.
- UsedKeep the pantry cool and dark, and rotate the oldest jars to the front.
- ContrastA pantry, not a cupboard. A cupboard is a box with a door; a pantry is a room you step into. cupboard →
- Not thisA fridge is not a pantry. The pantry holds what does not need cold.
- SimplyThe rice is in the pantry. Go and get it.
Patternin the pantry · a well-stocked pantry · pantry shelf / door · pantry staples

pantry is a room.

Also accepted in games: larder

Remember it

PANtry → everything for PANcakes lives in it

Everything for pancakes waits in the pantry: the flour, the sugar and the jam, on the shelves of one small room.

Where it comes from

Old French paneterie comes from Latin panis, bread. A pantry was originally the room where bread was kept.

Latin
panis — bread
Old French
paneterie
Middle English
panetrie
English, today
pantry

From Middle English panetrie, from Old French paneterie, related to Latin panis (“bread”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of pantry

1nounpantryA small room for storing food.B1+

“We keep rice, pasta and tins of soup in the pantry.”

Said"Check the pantry; I'm sure we've got another tin of tomatoes somewhere."
WrittenThe pantries of old houses were built on the north wall, where the sun never reached.
UsedKeep the pantry cool and dark, and rotate the oldest jars to the front.
ContrastA pantry, not a cupboard. A cupboard is a box with a door; a pantry is a room you step into. cupboard →
Not thisA fridge is not a pantry. The pantry holds what does not need cold.
SimplyThe rice is in the pantry. Go and get it.

Patternin the pantry · a well-stocked pantry · pantry shelf / door · pantry staples

pantry is a room.

Also accepted in games: larder