bodega

See also: Bodega and bodegă

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish bodega, from Latin apotheca (“storehouse”), from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “storehouse”). Doublet of apotheke and boutique. In New York popularized by the Puerto Rican community.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /boʊˈdeɪɡə/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• (Philippines) IPA^(key): /boˈde.ɡɐ/

Noun

bodega (plural bodegas)

1. A storehouse for maturing wine, a winery.
2. A store specializing in Hispanic groceries.
3. (informal, especially New York) Any convenience store.
   • 2020, N. K. Jemisin, The City We Became, Orbit, page 83:

     He […] finds himself looking across the street, at a little bodega on the corner.

   • 2022, Chuck Klosterman, The Nineties, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN:

     The ensemble of (often shirtless) young people spend most of the film drinking malt liquor, taking drugs, robbing bodegas, assaulting skateboarders, and (especially) having and discussing sex.

   • 2025 November 17, Anna Kodé, “New York’s Bodegas Are Here to Stay”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 November 2025:

     The familiar yellow awning of your favorite bodega beckons. You step under it, then into the glare of fluorescent lights. All you have to do is nod at the man behind the counter: He knows you want to order a chopped cheese. […] Bodegas, those small corner stores dotting blocks throughout the five boroughs, have been an essential part of city life for decades. The term, popularized by Puerto Ricans, loosely translates from Spanish to “warehouse.” […] In an age of increasingly high rents, growing chain stores, endless food delivery apps and a health-obsessed population, it’s somewhat of an urban miracle that bodegas are still around.

4. (informal, Southwestern US) Any small or medium-sized shop with a unique facade in a shopping center plaza, usually located in the center or the sides of the plaza. (Does not include the anchor tenant of the shopping center, as they are usually referred to as the anchor.)
5. (Philippines) A warehouse; a storeroom
   • 1925, Everett D. Gothwaite, Trade in Philippine Copra and Coconut Oil, page 51:

     Copra as brought into town from the plantations in bull carts is hauled to the door of his bodega, and the sale is negotiated.

   • 1958, Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the Philippines, page 413:

     They allowed Filipinos to go inside the bodega of the Central and get all the sugar they needed.

   • 1960, Philippines. Congress (1940-1973). Senate, Republic of the Philippines Congressional Record:

     Under the law, that is sufficient, and they make it clear that the value or the purchase prices is ₱100,000, and the bank is compelled under this proviso to accept the ricemill or bodega as sufficient collateral.

See also

• apothecary
• boutique