Boulanger

Boulanger is the French word for a baker of bread. The Larousse dictionary defines the noun as a person who makes or sells bread. It also lists an intransitive verb, boulanger, meaning to make bread, and an adjective meaning relating to the making and selling of bread.

The term is narrower than the English word baker. In France the boulanger is a separate trade from the pâtissier, whom Larousse defines as a person who makes or sells pâtisserie, meaning pastry. The shop is called a boulangerie, a word that covers both the bread trade and the bakery where loaves are sold.

The distinction explains why a French town usually has both a boulangerie and a pâtisserie, and why bakers of bread and makers of pastry are described as different crafts, even though many shops now sell both.