baker

IPA/ˈbeɪkə(r)/
KK[bˈekɚ]IPA/ˈbeɪkər/

baker — noun

  • bakersingular
  • bakersplural

1. Someone who earns a living by making bread, cakes, pastries, and other oven-bake

1.nounB1
Definition

Someone who earns a living by making bread, cakes, pastries, and other oven-baked food for customers.

Example

Ayesha starts work before sunrise to bake bread for the morning rush.

work before sunrise — common baker routine

The hotel hired João as a baker for its weekend dessert buffet.

hire someone as a baker

Common collocations
  • artisan baker
  • master baker
  • train as a baker
  • work as a baker
Synonyms
  • pastry chef

    focuses more on desserts and pastries than on everyday bread

  • confectioner

    more strongly associated with sweets and candy than with bread

Grammar Patterns

a baker

work as a baker

become a baker

Usage Note

Usually countable. It can refer to someone working in a bakery, hotel, or restaurant kitchen, not only to the owner of a shop.

Common Mistakes

My uncle is a baker because he sells fish at the market.
My uncle is a baker because he makes bread and pastries every morning.
a baker works with baked food, not other kinds of market goods.

2. A store where people buy loaves, pastries, and cakes, often baked in the same pl

2.nounB1
Definition

A store where people buy loaves, pastries, and cakes, often baked in the same place.

Example

Charlotte stopped at the baker's to buy rye bread before school.

go to the baker's — shop meaning

By six o'clock, the village baker's had a line of customers outside.

Common collocations
  • the local baker's
  • a family-run baker's
  • buy bread from the baker's
  • go round to the baker's
Synonyms
  • bakery

    the most common general word for the shop, especially in American English

  • cake shop

    suggests a stronger focus on cakes and sweets than on bread

  • pastry shop

    focuses more on pastries and desserts than on everyday loaves

Grammar Patterns

the baker's

go to the baker's

buy something from the baker's

Usage Note

Most often heard as 'the baker's', especially in British English. American English more commonly uses bakery for the shop itself.

Common Mistakes

Let's meet outside the baker when the shop opens.
Let's meet outside the baker's when the shop opens.
when you mean the shop, English usually adds 's or uses 'bakery'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These words all connect to making food, but they are not used in the same way. A baker usually makes bread, cakes, or pastries for sale, often in a bakery or hotel kitchen. A pastry chef is more specialised and is strongly linked to desserts, plated sweets, and decorative pastry work. A confectioner focuses on sweets such as candy or fine chocolates rather than everyday loaves. A cook is much broader and may prepare any kind of meal, not baked goods in particular. Breadmaker can describe someone who mainly makes bread, but it is also used for a machine, so it is less precise. You might train as a baker in a neighborhood shop, but hire a pastry chef for an elegant dessert menu.

pastry chefconfectioner ↗cook ↗breadmaker

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • go to the baker's
  • work as a baker

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Baker comes from Old English bæcere, a noun built from the verb bake with an agent ending meaning 'a person who does this work'. Middle English also used forms such as bakere. The history is transparent: a baker is literally someone whose job is to bake.

First known use

12th century

12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1