What does "chemistry" in "grocery" mean?

“...According to Ho Ngoc Duc, “tập” means having many things, many types mixed together. Simply understood, it means diversity, mixture, showing the blending of many different things. “hoa” means to transform, to change into another form (according to Tran Van Chanh dictionary). When combining both the words “tập” and “hoa”, “tập hóa” can be understood as a store that specializes in selling many different types of goods without specializing in any product or group of products [...].

For example, there are small businesses that sell soft drinks and candies; others that specialize in selling toys; or there are also businesses that sell soft drinks and candies and also sell toys. Therefore, the list of imported products is not the same but varies depending on the purpose and demand.

“Transformation” here refers to the way items are organized and classified, while maintaining diversity and flexibility. Therefore, “transformation” is not only a word that means transformation but also reflects the nature of the grocery store - a place that can meet all needs, from the smallest items to essential products. It is this transformation that makes the grocery store become a place that provides everything you need in life.

In short, the word “hoa” in “tập hóa” plays an important role. It not only represents diversity, but also flexibility, making the grocery store an ideal destination for all consumers...”.

Please let the "Chatting about words" column know if the above explanation is correct?

Thank you very much".

Answer: The article of Rich and Beautiful Vietnamese has errors in homophones, different words, and different meanings. “Hoa” in “bach hoa” is not the word hoa (self-shaped 化, in transformation 變化), but the word hoa (self-shaped 貨, in hoa vat 貨物, hoa pham 貨品, hang hang 行貨, chau hoa 雜貨,...).

Grocery is a Vietnamese word of Chinese origin, explained in the Chinese dictionary as "Bach hoa, cac chung nhat dung linh tinh hoa vat - 百貨; 各種日用零星貨物" which means "grocery is hundreds of goods, miscellaneous chemicals used for daily life".

In Vietnamese, grocery has the same meaning as in Chinese: "small, everyday goods" (Vietnamese Dictionary - Hoang Phe-Vietlex).

The character "hua" 貨 in miscellaneous is a type of phonetic character (one of the six rules of Chinese character construction), borrowing the character "化" in variation to record the sound, and the radical "bei" 貝 (meaning money, property) to record the meaning. Therefore, although "hua" 化 (in variation) and "hua" 貨 (in miscellaneous) have the same pronunciation, their form and meaning are different.

Grocery store is close to department store.

Grocery store 雜貨 is often used to refer to miscellaneous goods, referring to stores that sell everyday goods (the word 雜 means mixed, not homogeneous, not specialized).

Department stores 百貨 is often used to refer to many types of goods (have everything), often used for large stores, selling many types of goods, not only for daily consumption, but also high-end equipment and items, for long-term use (The word bach 百 indicates many, similar to thien/ngan, ten thousand. During the subsidy period, department stores were very popular).

Thus, the word "hoa" in "chau hoa" has the character 貨 (meaning goods), which is completely different from the word "hoa" 化 in "bien hoa". We cannot use the word "hoa" 化 with the meaning of "bien hoa", "flexible", "change, convert into another form" (as explained by Rich Vietnamese). Because if so, the grocery store will become an address where, although the goods are "diverse and mixed", they are always "changing", "changing", "flexible", today selling this, tomorrow selling that. For example, the day before we went there and bought a beer of this brand (which we like), then a few days later when we come back, the store has switched to selling another type of beer (which we don't like), or even no longer selling beer but switching to selling... wine!

Hoang Trinh Son (Contributor)

Reference: The entry for "miscellaneous goods" in the Chinese dictionary explains it as "All kinds of daily-use miscellaneous goods - 百貨; 各種日用零星貨物".

In Chinese, “linh tinh” is a compound word that means “small things, small quantity” [linh toai, thieu luong - 零碎, 少量]. In which, linh 零 means “small things; scattered, dispersed” [original text: linh toai, linh tan - 零碎,零散]; and tinh 星 means “tiny things; small image” [chi te tieu chi vat - 指細小之物; image te tieu - 形容細小].

In Vietnamese, linh and tinh are both dependent elements (not capable of independent function), so linh tinh is often classified as a "reduplicative word".

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/hoa-trong-tap-hoa-co-nghia-la-gi-245586.htm