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inventory

IN-ven-tor-ee /ˈɪn.vən.tər.i/

nounverbB1IELTSTOEFLGMAT

BusinessGeneral

A complete list of items such as property, goods in stock, or the contents of a building.

In supply chain, inventory is often seen as 'frozen capital'—money that is tied up in physical goods and cannot be used elsewhere.

The story behind the word. From the Latin 'invenire' (to find), which also gave us 'invent.' An inventory was originally a list of things 'found' in a deceased person's estate.

Word relationships

stock: Stock usually refers to the goods themselves; inventory can refer to the goods or the list/record of them.
supply: Supply is the total amount available; inventory is the amount currently held in storage.

shortage: A shortage is a lack of goods, whereas inventory is the presence of them.

Commonly confused with

assets: Assets include everything a company owns (buildings, cash); inventory is specifically the goods for sale or production.

Word family

inventoried (verb): Past tense of recording items.

Collocations

inventory management
excess inventory
inventory turnover
just-in-time inventory

Example sentences

"Inventory is money sitting on a shelf." A classic view of waste in manufacturing.
"The store will be closed on Monday so the staff can take a full physical inventory." The process of counting stock.

Memory hook

You 'invent' a list of what you 'find' in the warehouse—Inventory. Find it, list it.

When not to use

Don't use it to describe a single item; it refers to a collection or the system of tracking them.

Fun facts

The world's largest inventory management challenge is the US Department of Defense, which tracks millions of unique items globally.