confectionery
4 synonyms for confectionery, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — Sweets, chocolates and similar sugary foods, considered collectively.
Synonyms
Everyday swaps
Common words most readers know — safe in any writing.
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
sweetmeats
confectionary
How to use confectionery
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
sugar confectionery
chocolate confectionery
confectionery industry
a confectionery counter
Neutral, with a commercial and trade flavour; ordinary speech prefers "sweets" or "candy".
Etymology
From confection, ultimately from Latin conficere "to prepare, put together", with the ending -ery denoting a trade or its products.
Full origin of confectionery →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between confectionery and confectionary?
Confectionery, with an e, is the standard spelling for sweets and for the trade that makes them. Confectionary is a rare adjective meaning "relating to confectionery", and is also an old word for a place where sweets are kept. If you mean the sweets, use confectionery.
What counts as confectionery?
The trade splits it in two: sugar confectionery covers boiled sweets, toffee, fudge, gums and jellies, while chocolate confectionery covers bars, pralines and filled chocolates. Cakes and biscuits are usually classed as bakery instead.
Is confectionery the same as candy?
Candy is the ordinary American word for the same products, and in British English confectionery is the formal or trade term for what shoppers simply call sweets. Confectionery is the word you will see on packaging, shop signage and industry reports.
