bakehouse

IPA/ˈbeɪkhaʊs/
IPA/ˈbeɪkhaʊs/

bakehouse — noun

1. a place with ovens where people bake bread, especially as a room or building use

1.nounC1
Definition

a place with ovens where people bake bread, especially as a room or building used for the work

Example

Wren carried warm loaves from the bakehouse to the front shop.

carry loaves from the bakehouse to the shop

Before sunrise, smoke was already rising from the village bakehouse.

village bakehouse as a working bread-making place

Common collocations
  • village bakehouse
  • farm bakehouse
  • work in a bakehouse
  • rent a bakehouse
Synonyms
  • bakery

    the common modern word, often focusing on the business or shop that makes and sells bread

  • bakeshop

    mainly North American and usually understood as a retail shop rather than the work room

Usage Note

Often refers to the room or building where bread is baked; bakery is more common for the business or shop that sells the bread.

Common Mistakes

Put the rolls in the bakehouse for ten minutes.
Put the rolls in the oven for ten minutes.
a bakehouse is the whole room or building, not the oven itself.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All three words can point to a place connected with baked bread, but they are not used in exactly the same way. Bakehouse puts the focus on the room or building where the baking happens, and it often sounds older, rural, or tied to a working oven. Bakery is the normal modern word for a business or shop that makes and sells bread, cakes, or pastries. Bakeshop is mostly North American and usually suggests the customer-facing shop rather than the baking room behind it. So an old farm may restore its bakehouse, while people in town usually stop at a bakery or bakeshop.

bakehouse ↗bakery ↗bakeshop

Common collocations

Nouns

  • village bakehouse
  • farm bakehouse
  • old bakehouse

Phrases

  • work in a bakehouse
  • rent a bakehouse

Prepositions

  • in the bakehouse
  • from the bakehouse

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Bakehouse is a native English compound built from bake and house. The first part comes from Old English bacan, meaning to cook bread or other food in dry heat, and the second comes from Old English hus, meaning house or building. The word therefore literally means a house for baking.

First known use

15th century

15th century, in the meaning defined above