pantry

American  

[pan-tree] / ˈpæn tri /

noun

• pantries
  plural

1. a room or closet in which food, groceries, and other provisions, or silverware, dishes, etc., are kept.

2. a room between the kitchen and dining room in which food is arranged for serving, glassware and dishes are stored, etc.

3.  food pantry.  a shelter or other place where food is dispensed to people experiencing food insecurity, either as groceries or as meals.

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pantry British  

/ ˈpæntrɪ /

noun

1. a small room or cupboard in which provisions, cooking utensils, etc, are kept; larder

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pantries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pantry

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English panetrie, from Anglo-French; Old French paneterie “bread room,” equivalent to panet(er) “to bake bread” (derivative of pan “bread,” from Latin pānis ) + -erie noun suffix; see -ery

Explanation

A pantry is an area in or near a kitchen where food is stored. When you buy a hundred boxes of macaroni and cheese that are on sale, you'll need to make room in the pantry for them. Not every kitchen has a pantry, a dedicated space for storing food and other supplies. In some cases a pantry is a closet or cupboard with shelves, and sometimes a pantry is an entirely separate room adjacent to the kitchen. The Anglo-French source of pantry, panetrie, means "bread room," from the Medieval Latin panataria, "room of a servant in charge of food or bread." The Latin root, panis, means "bread."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pantry pantries

Think of it as the culinary equivalent of shopping your pantry: What two, three or four ingredients keep appearing together in your cooking?

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026

She founded crisis support centre Second Chance Medway, which runs a discounted food pantry two days a week, where she now sees not only people on benefits, but working people too.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Buy one jar of good jam for the pantry and go home.

From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026

Others are neatly arranged in her butler’s pantry.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026

Jacqui turns to the pantry and starts pulling out Styrofoam noodle cups.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Videos on social media show people stashing their boxes in their pantries or taking their boxes to the movies, the beach and on flights.

From Salon ● May 17, 2026

A spokesperson said it also encouraged physical activity through accessible play facilities and had "several" community pantries and shops that offered "healthy, low cost or free choices for families".

From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2026

Some officers are taking on second jobs or relying on donations, union officials say, and several major airports are collecting gift cards and stocking food pantries for TSA staff struggling without pay.

From Barron's ● Mar. 21, 2026

The region’s Catholic institutions responded to last year’s aggressive raids with an outpouring of charity, reorganizing many food pantries around grocery delivery and ministering directly to communities many described as under siege.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2026

Lots of TV shows, games of Scrabble, and plentiful food from the pantries that showed up everywhere.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman

Related Words

• cellar
• closet
• cupboard