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. (US) 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^[3], 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

Catalan

Etymology

First attested in 1653. Borrowed from Spanish bodega. Doublet of botiga.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [buˈðɛ.ɣə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [boˈðɛ.ɣə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [boˈðe.ɣa]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

bodega f (plural bodegues)

1. (nautical) hold (the cargo area of a ship)

Derived terms

• bodeguer

Related terms

• bodegó

Further reading

• “bodega”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “bodega” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “bodega”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Cebuano

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish bodega. Doublet of botika and botik.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: bo‧de‧ga
• IPA^(key): /boˈdeɡa/ [boˈd̪i.ɡɐ]

Noun

bodega

1. a storeroom
2. a warehouse

Danish

Etymology

From Spanish bodega, from Latin apothēca, from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē). Doublet of butik and apotek.

Noun

bodega c (singular definite bodegaen, plural indefinite bodegaer)

1. a bar (venue where alcohol is served), especially a dingy one

   Coordinate terms: beværtning, værtshus, kippe, pub, bar

2. a (Spanish-like) wine bar

   Coordinate term: vinbar

Declension

Declension of bodega

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	bodega	bodegaen	bodegaer	bodegaerne
genitive	bodegas	bodegaens	bodegaers	bodegaernes

References

• “bodega” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish bodega, from Latin apothēca (“storehouse”), from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “storehouse”). Doublet of boetiek and apotheek.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /boːˈdeːɣaː/, /boːˈdeːɡaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bo‧de‧ga

Noun

bodega f (plural bodega's, diminutive bodegaatje n)

1. bodega, winery, wine bar
2. bodega, storeroom, cellar

Hiligaynon

Etymology

From Spanish bodega, from Latin apothēca, from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē).

Noun

bodéga

1. cellar, storeroom, warehouse

Old Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Latin apothēca.

Noun

bodega f (plural bodegas)

1. wine cellar
   • c. 1250, Gonzalo de Berceo, Los Milagros de Nuestra Señora, (published by Claudio García Turza, 1992, Madrid: Espasa-Calpe):

     Entró enna bodega un día por ventura,
     bebió mucho del vino, esto fo sin mesura;
     embebdóse el loco, issió de su cordura,
     yogo hasta las viésperas sobre la tierra dura.

     He entered in the cellar one day by chance, and he drank a lot of the wine, this was without measure. The madman became drunk, and lost his sanity. He lay until vespers on the hard ground.

Descendants

• Spanish: bodega

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese [Term?], from Latin apothēca, from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “storehouse”). Doublet of adega, apoteca, botica, and butique.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /boˈdɛ.ɡɐ/, /buˈdɛ.ɡɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /boˈdɛ.ɡɐ/, /buˈdɛ.ɡɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /boˈdɛ.ɡa/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /buˈdɛ.ɡɐ/ [buˈðɛ.ɣɐ]

• Rhymes: -ɛɡɐ
• Hyphenation: bo‧de‧ga

Noun

bodega f (plural bodegas)

1. a small, cheap and possibly insalubrious tavern

   Synonym: baiuca

2. (Brazil) a small warehouse

   Synonyms: taberna, mercearia

3. anything considered worthless, useless or rather bad

Derived terms

• bodegueiro

References

• “bodega”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “bodega”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “bodega”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), São Paulo: 7Graus, 2009–2026

Further reading

• “bodega”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish bodega, inherited from Latin apothēca, from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “storehouse”). Compare the borrowed doublet apoteca, as well as botica and boutique, through a French intermediate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /boˈdeɡa/ [boˈð̞e.ɣ̞a]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɡa
• Syllabification: bo‧de‧ga

Noun

bodega f (plural bodegas)

1. wine cellar; wine storeroom; wine stockroom
2. wine warehouse
3. wineshop; wine store
4. winery
5. (agriculture) a vintage or great abundance of wine somewhere
6. pantry; larder (place where groceries are kept)
7. (agriculture) garner; silo; granary (space to store cereals)
8. (nautical) port warehouse; port storage
9. (nautical) cargo hold (cargo space in a ship)
10. (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile) warehouse (building where goods are stored)
11. (El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia) storeroom; stockroom; junkroom; lumber room (room or enclosed place where goods are stored)
12. (Mexico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela) grocery store; supermarket
13. (Peru, Venezuela) variety store; convenience store; corner store; minimarket; minimart
14. (US) corner store owned by Hispanics
15. (Cuba) an establishment similar to a grocery store or general store where rationed food is sold (typically owned by the government)
16. (Dominican Republic) general store (in sugar mills)
17. (Rioplatense, figurative, slang) stomach; belly (of a person)
18. (Argentina) baggage hold; luggage compartment; cargo bin; luggage hold (underneath a short-haul bus)
19. (Colombia, politics) troll farm

Hyponyms

• bodega de carga (“cargo bay”) (especially for planes and spacecraft)

Derived terms

• bodegaje
• bodegón
• bodeguero
• embodegar

Related terms

• apoteca
• botica

Descendants

• → Catalan: bodega
• → Cebuano: bodega
• → Danish: bodega
• → Dutch: bodega
• → English: bodega
• → French: bodéga
• → German: Bodega
• → Hiligaynon: bodega
• → Tagalog: bodega

Further reading

• “bodega”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “bodega”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• budega

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish bodega, from Latin apothēca, from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “storehouse”). Compare Tausug buriga. Doublet of botika.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /boˈdeɡa/ [boˈd̪ɛː.ɣɐ]
• Rhymes: -eɡa
• Syllabification: bo‧de‧ga

Noun

bodega (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜓᜇᜒᜄ)

1. storeroom; stockroom
2. warehouse

   Synonyms: kamalig, pintungan

3. (boxing) stomach

   Synonym: tiyan

Derived terms

• bantay-bodega
• bodegero
• ibodega

Descendants

• → Tausug: buriga