Buy vs Purchase

[uzairkhan]

Please tell me deference between Buy and Purchase.

[engee30]

Please tell me deference between Buy and Purchase.

Purchase sounds more commercial and formal to me.

[PROESL]

Purchase sounds more commercial and formal to me.

I agree.

I'd like to add another point where business job titles are concerned.

We say "purchasing agent" to speak of one's job title, while we, generally, do not say "buying agent" to speak of one's job title.

By contrast, we could say both "purchaser" and "buyer". I think it's more likely that we would use "buyer" as a job title than "purchaser", which, I believe, would more typically refer to those who spend money - the general public - for goods and services.

A more professional, or serious term, if you will, is "procurement agent".

Taking it even a step further, one finds that those who purchase goods to be sold sometimes refer to themselves as "purveyors". Using the word "purveyor", one would understand implicitly that a merchant offering any such goods for sale would first have to purchase such goods. The same thing goes for "supplier" of course. purvey: Definition from Answers.com

[konungursvia]

Latin words tend to be more formal and technical, Anglo-Saxon words colloquial, informal, down-to-earth. Buy means purchase, but it also has broader metaphorical meanings like "accept, believe, be willing to give the benefit of the doubt." Purchase is more straightforward in its purely monetary meaning.

[bhaisahab]

Latin words tend to be more formal and technical, Anglo-Saxon words colloquial, informal, down-to-earth. Buy means purchase, but it also has broader metaphorical meanings like "accept, believe, be willing to give the benefit of the doubt." Purchase is more straightforward in its purely monetary meaning.

Even 'purchase' has meanings other than monetary.

Online Etymology Dictionary

[konungursvia]

Right, but pourchasser is a rather long way from our purchase of today.

[bhaisahab]

Right, but pourchasser is a rather long way from our purchase of today.

What about this meaning, which is still in current use, in BrE at least.
Cambridge Dictionaries Online - Cambridge University Press

[konungursvia]

Right, that exists here too, but I was thinking about verbs.