Drugstore

How to spell drugstore

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce drugstore

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does drugstore mean?

1. nounA shop that sells medicines along with toiletries, cosmetics, and other everyday goods.

Drugstore in a sentence

• She stopped at the drugstore to pick up her prescription on the way home.

• The corner drugstore stays open late for cold remedies and bandages.

Where does drugstore come from?

Language of origin: French

This is a compound formed in American English from two older words, 'drug' and 'store'. The first element, 'drug', came into English in the 1300s from the Old French 'drogue', meaning a medicinal substance, which may in turn trace back to a Middle Dutch or Low German phrase 'droge vate', literally 'dry barrels', referring to the dried herbs and goods kept in casks for the apothecary trade. The second element, 'store', arrived through Old French 'estorer' from the Latin 'instaurare', meaning 'to restore or provide', and gradually narrowed in American usage to mean a shop. The two were welded together in the United States during the early 1800s to name the shop where remedies, and later sundries and refreshments, were sold. Because it is a transparent compound of two familiar words, the spelling holds no hidden traps; the only thing to remember is that it is written as one solid word, not as 'drug store'.

How the word is built

• drug (medicinal substance)
• store (shop)