Confectionery (pronounced kuhn-fek-shuh-ner-ee)
(1) Confections or sweets collectively.
(2) The work or business of a confectioner.
Confectionary (pronounced kuhn-fek-shuh-ner-ee)
(1) A place where confections are kept, made or sold (obsolete except in retro-branding).
(2) A historic alternative spelling of confectionery (obsolete for centuries in this context).
1535–1545: Both words are constructs: confection + -ery or -ary. Confection was from the Middle English confescioun, from the Old French confeccion, from the Late Latin cōnfectiōnem & cōnfectiōnārius (one who prepares things by means of combining ingredients according to method), (nominative cōnfectiō), from cōnfectus, past participle of conficere (to prepare), that construct being con- (with) + facere (to make, do). Originally the meaning was "the making by means of ingredients"; the modern sense of "candy or light pastry" becoming predominant only in the early seventeenth century. The use of confectionery to mean “excessive architectural ornamentation” dates from 1861 and was later used to condemn the excesses of 1950s US automobiles such as the Edsel although the confectionery played little part in its failure. The adoption of “confected rage” in political discourse to describe "fake outrage" appears to have begun in the 1980s. The use of confectioneress (a female confectioner; the plural confectioneresses) is dated and now rarely used but does still appear, used apparently as a marketing gimmick including as the trading name of business outlets, their advertising usually featuring much chocolate.
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