inventory

English

Etymology

From Middle English inventorie, from Medieval Latin inventōrium, alteration of Late Latin inventārium, from Latin inveniō (“to find out”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.vən.tɹi/, /ɪnˈvɛn.tə.ɹi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.vənˌtɔɹ.i/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.vən.tɹi/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈven.t(ə).ɹi/, /ˈɪn-/

Noun

inventory (plural inventories)

1. (operations) The stock of an item on hand at a particular location or business.

   Due to an undersized inventory at the Boston outlet, customers had to travel to Providence to find the item.

2. (operations) A detailed list of all of the items on hand.

   The inventory included several items that one wouldn't normally think to find at a cheese shop.

3. (operations) The process of producing or updating such a list.

   This month's inventory took nearly three days.

4. A space containing the items available to a character, especially that in a video game, for immediate use.

   You can't get through the underground tunnel if there are more than three items in your inventory.

5. (linguistics, especially phonology) The total set of a (specified) linguistic feature (within a language etc.)

   Germanic languages have a marked tendency towards large vocalic inventories.

   • 2014, Guillaume Jacques, “V: Cone”, in Jackson Sun, editor, Phonological Profiles of Little-Studied Tibetic Varieties, Taipei: Academia Sinica, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 270:

     Most final consonants have been lost, resulting in a tonal language with a rich consonantal and vocalic inventory, but with a relatively simple syllabic structure..

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:list

Derived terms

• ad inventory
• benefit of inventory
• interest inventory
• inventorial
• inventory management
• inventory tetris
• inventory Tetris
• periodic inventory
• perpetual inventory
• personality inventory

 

Related terms

• invent
• invented
• inventive
• invention
• inventor
• reinvent

Translations

stock of an item on hand at a particular location or business

• Albanian: inventar (sq) m
• Arabic: جَرْد m (jard)
• Belarusian: інвента́р m (invjentár), запа́сы m pl (zapásy)
• Bulgarian: инвента́р (bg) m (inventár)
• Catalan: inventari (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 庫存／库存 (zh) (kùcún), 儲存／储存 (zh) (chǔcún)

• Czech: zásoba (cs) f, inventář (cs) m
• Dutch: voorraad (nl) m, inventaris (nl) m
• Esperanto: inventaro
• Finnish: varasto (fi)
• French: inventaire (fr) m
• German: Inventar (de) n, Lager (de) n, Vorräte (de) m pl
• Hebrew: מְלַאי (he) m (mlay)
• Hungarian: készlet (hu), árukészlet (hu), raktár (hu) (in the phrase raktáron van)
• Indonesian: inventaris (id)
• Italian: scorta (it)
• Japanese: 在庫 (ja) (ざいこ, zaiko)
• Korean: 재고(在庫) (ko) (jaego)
• Macedonian: за́лиха f (záliha), инвента́р m (inventár)
• Malay: inventori
• Polish: inwentarz (pl) m, zapasy (pl) m pl
• Portuguese: inventário (pt) m, existências f pl (Portugal)
• Romanian: inventar (ro) n
• Russian: инвента́рь (ru) m (inventárʹ), запа́сы (ru) m pl (zapásy)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: инвѐнта̄р m

  Roman: invèntār (sh) m

• Slovak: zásoba f, inventár m
• Slovene: zaloga f
• Spanish: inventario (es) m
• Swedish: lager (sv) n, inventarier (sv) pl
• Tagalog: talatinggalan
• Turkish: envanter (tr)
• Ukrainian: інвента́р m (inventár), запа́си m pl (zapásy)
• Uyghur: زاپاس (zapas), قالدۇق (qalduq), ئامبار زاپىسى (ambar zapisi), خەزىنە قالدۇقى (xezine qalduqi), ئىسكىلات قالدۇقى (iskilat qalduqi)

detailed list of all of the items on hand

• Belarusian: рэе́стр m (rejéstr), спіс m (spis), пералі́к m (pjeralík)
• Bulgarian: о́пис (bg) m (ópis)
• Catalan: inventari (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 目錄／目录 (zh) (mùlù)

• Czech: inventář (cs) m
• Dutch: inventaris (nl) m
• Esperanto: inventaro
• Finnish: varastoluettelo, inventaari; pesäluettelo (fi) (of an estate)
• Galician: inventario (gl) m
• German: Inventar (de) n, Inventarliste (de) f, Inventarverzeichnis (de) n
• Hungarian: leltár (hu), kimutatás (hu)
• Indonesian: inventaris (id)
• Italian: inventario (it)
• Japanese: 目録 (ja) (もくろく, mokuroku), 表 (ja) (ひょう, hyō)
• Korean: 목록(目錄) (ko) (mongnok), 표(表) (ko) (pyo)
• Latin: inventārium n (Late)
• Malay: inventori
• Maori: rārangi taputapu
• Ottoman Turkish: دفتر (defter), پوصوله (pusula)
• Polish: inwentarz (pl) m
• Portuguese: inventário (pt) m
• Russian: рее́стр (ru) m (rejéstr), спи́сок (ru) m (spísok), пе́речень (ru) m (pérečenʹ), о́пись (ru) f (ópisʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̀пис m, инвѐнта̄р m

  Roman: pòpis (sh) m, invèntār (sh) m

• Slovak: inventár m
• Slovene: inventar (sl) m
• Spanish: inventario (es) m
• Swedish: inventarieförteckning c, lagersaldo n, inventering (sv) c
• Tagalog: talatinggalan
• Turkish: envanter (tr)
• Ukrainian: реє́стр m (rejéstr), спи́сок (uk) m (spýsok), пере́лік m (perélik)

process of producing or updating such a list

• Bulgarian: инвентариза́ция f (inventarizácija)
• Catalan: inventari (ca) m
• Czech: inventura (cs) f
• Dutch: inventariseren (nl) n
• Esperanto: inventarado
• Finnish: inventointi (fi)
• Galician: inventario (gl) m
• German: Inventur (de) f
• Hungarian: leltár (hu), leltározás (hu)
• Italian: inventario (it)
• Polish: inwentarz (pl) m
• Portuguese: inventário (pt) m
• Russian: инвентариза́ция (ru) f (inventarizácija), о́пись (ru) f (ópisʹ), переучёт (ru) m (pereučót), учёт (ru) m (učót)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̀пис m

  Roman: pòpis (sh) m

• Slovak: inventarizácia f (creating list), inventúra f
• Spanish: inventario (es) m
• Swedish: inventering (sv) c

Verb

inventory (third-person singular simple present inventories, present participle inventorying, simple past and past participle inventoried)

1. (transitive, operations) To take stock of the resources or items on hand; to produce an inventory.

   The main job of the night shift was to inventory the store, and restock when necessary.

   • 2024, Jasper Fforde, Red Side Story, Hodder & Stoughton, page 235:

     ‘Now,’ said Jethro, ‘we’re inventorying all the stock today, do you want to lend a hand?’

Synonyms

• index
• inventorize
• take inventory
• take stock

Translations

to take stock of the resources or items on hand; to produce an inventory

• Bulgarian: инвентаризи́рам impf or pf (inventarizíram)
• Catalan: inventariar (ca)
• Dutch: inventariseren (nl)
• Finnish: inventoida
• French: inventorier (fr)
• Galician: inventariar
• German: Inventur machen
• Hungarian: leltároz (hu)
• Portuguese: inventariar (pt), fazer o inventário
• Russian: инвентаризи́ровать (ru) impf or pf (inventarizírovatʹ)
• Spanish: inventariar (es)
• Swedish: inventera (sv)

Further reading

• “inventory”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “inventory”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “inventory”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.