Bilihin

Bilihin is a Filipino noun that refers to goods, merchandise, or commodities—items that are bought and sold. It covers a wide range of consumer items, from food and clothing to household goods and electronics. In everyday speech, people use the term to talk about the goods available in markets or stores, often in the plural form mga bilihin to indicate “the goods.”

The word is derived from the verb bilhin, meaning to buy. The suffix -in in nominal formations marks the concept of things that can be bought, producing a noun that denotes the category of purchasable items. As a linguistic term, bilihin is commonly used in both casual conversation and formal discussions about trade, pricing, and availability.

Usage and examples: in budgeting, shopping, and retail contexts, discussions about bilihin often focus on prices, supply, and accessibility. Phrases such as pagtaas ng mga bilihin (“rising prices of goods”) are frequently heard in news reports and policy debates, especially in the context of inflation and cost of living. While bilihin can refer to essential items like food and basic commodities, its scope can extend to non-essential goods depending on the topic.

See also terms related to trade and commerce in Filipino, such as kalakal (goods; trade), produkto (product), and mga consumer goods. Bilihin remains a common shorthand in Filipino for describing the material items that households purchase and rely on in daily life.