What does boutique mean?
Word: Boutique
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Boutique means a small shop that sells fashionable clothes, accessories or similar goods.
How do you spell boutique?
Syllables: bou - tique
Tricky part: The ending comes from French, so the k sound is spelt que. Pupils who spell by ear write boutik or boutiqe.
Watch out for: boutik, boutiqe, boutike
Memory tip: Think of a smart shop with a long queue outside it: queue and this word both keep the que.
Boutique in a sentence
Example 1: My aunt runs a tiny boutique in Jaipur that sells block-printed scarves.
Example 2: The boutique next to the bakery has lovely silver earrings in its window.
Example 3: Meena saved her pocket money for a jacket from the boutique on Park Street.
Fun Fact
The word came to English through French, and it goes back to a Greek word for a storehouse. Italian has bottega for a shop or workshop from the same source.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
b_ut_que
a) o, e
b) a, i
c) u, i
d) o, i
Show answer
d) o, i. The French ou of soup comes first, and the vowel after the t is said like the ee of see.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Before the wedding my grandmother insisted on visiting a bouttique near the crowded market, where she examined several embroidered scarves and finally bargained for a beautiful green one.
a) embroidered
b) bouttique
c) crowded
d) bargained
Show answer
b) bouttique. Bouttique doubles a letter that should stay on its own.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
Rani plans to open a small uoibqtue in Paris when she finishes college.
a) mystique
b) boutique
c) physique
d) critique
Show answer
b) boutique. Spot the b among the letters: critique, mystique and physique have none.
Spell-o-Spell
One word in the list is misspelt and three are spelt correctly. Choose what the misspelt word means.
1. boutique 2. cataloge 3. fashion 4. jewellery
a) a little shop with a stylish range
b) a printed or online list of goods for sale
c) rings, necklaces and bracelets
d) the latest style of clothes
Show answer
b) a printed or online list of goods for sale. Cataloge has lost its u; the British spelling is catalogue.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What would you most expect to find on sale in a boutique?
a) sacks of wholesale rice and sugar
b) a few carefully chosen designer dresses
c) shelves of tyres and spare car parts
d) rows of frozen food in large freezers
Show answer
b) a few carefully chosen designer dresses
2. A hotel in Udaipur calls itself a boutique hotel. What is it likely to be?
a) huge and plain
b) noisy and crowded
c) cosy and stylish
d) old and abandoned
Show answer
c) cosy and stylish
