What does bookshop mean?
A bookshop is a retail establishment where books are bought and sold. The term is the standard word for such a shop in British English; American speakers more often say bookstore, though bookshop is widely understood and used there as well, especially for smaller or more characterful establishments. Bookshops range from large chains stocking new bestsellers to tiny second-hand shops filled with rare and out-of-print volumes, and the word frequently appears in phrases like independent bookshop, local bookshop, and second-hand bookshop. Beyond its plain commercial meaning, bookshop carries affectionate cultural connotations: bookshops are often portrayed as havens of browsing, discovery, and quiet conversation, and their survival against online retailers is a recurring topic of public concern. The plural is bookshops. For anyone writing for a British audience, bookshop is the natural default term; for an American audience, bookstore may sound more idiomatic, but neither choice would be regarded as an error.
nounA shop where books are sold.
- A retail shop that sells books, whether new or used.
- (Less commonly) the business or trade of selling books at retail.
"She spent a lazy Sunday afternoon browsing the second-hand bookshop near the river."
"The village bookshop has been run by the same family for three generations."
"After lunch they wandered into an antiquarian bookshop and left with two leather-bound atlases."
Regular plural, formed by adding -s. Used when referring to multiple shops or to the category in general, e.g. in discussions of the decline of high-street bookshops.
"Independent bookshops have staged something of a revival in recent years."
"Bookshop" and "bookstore" mean exactly the same thing — which one you say mostly depends on which side of the Atlantic you learned English on.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bookshop
Bookshop is a compound of book, from Old English bōc (related to German Buch), and shop, from Old English scoppa, meaning a sheltered stall or building. The compound arose naturally as fixed retail premises replaced itinerant bookselling, becoming common by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as literacy spread and commercial bookselling flourished. Its close relative bookstore formed on the same pattern, and both share their first element with cognates such as booklet, bookish, and notebook.
Related word forms
How bookshop is actually used
Bookshop is the dominant term in British English, while bookstore prevails in American English, though both are understood everywhere. The word carries warm, slightly nostalgic connotations — independent bookshops in particular are often romanticised as cultural institutions. It typically refers to retail premises rather than libraries (which lend rather than sell).
Easily confused with bookshop
Bookstore is the standard American term for the same kind of shop, while bookshop is the usual British term; both mean a retail store selling books.