A shop in which bread (and often other baked goods such as cakes) is baked and/or sold.
"We stopped at the bakery to buy fresh croissants just out of the oven."
In plain English: A bakery is a shop where people bake and sell bread, cakes, and pastries.
"We stopped at the bakery to buy fresh croissants for breakfast."
Usage: A bakery refers to the physical store where fresh bread, pastries, and cakes are made or sold. Use this term when visiting a retail location for daily purchases rather than referring to an industrial facility that produces goods in bulk.
The word bakery comes from the verb bake combined with a suffix meaning "place of," originally describing any location for making bread. By 1832, British travelers thought this specific sense-a shop selling baked goods-was actually invented in America.