merchant
- merchant
\ \ [13] Latin merx denoted ‘goods for sale’. From it was derived the verb mercārī ‘trade’ (whose past participle was the source of English market). Mercārī was adapted in Vulgar Latin to mercātāre, whose present participle mercātāns produced the Old French noun marcheant ‘trader’, source of English merchant. Merchandise [13] comes from a derivative of marcheant; and other English descendants of Latin merx are commerce and mercury.
\ \ Cf.⇒ COMMERCE, MARKET, MERCURY
Word origins - 2ed.
J. Ayto.
2005.
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merchant — mer‧chant [ˈmɜːtʆnt ǁ ˈmɜːr ] noun [countable] COMMERCE 1. a person or organization that buys and sells goods or a particular type of goods: • US tobacco merchants are depending more and more on international sales. • wine merchants and… … Financial and business terms
Merchant — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Hoshang Merchant (* 1947), indischer Autor und Dichter Ismail Merchant (1936–2005), indisch britischer Filmproduzent Ival Arthur Merchant (1898–1985), Veterinär Pathologe und Bakteriologe Livingston T.… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Merchant — Mer chant, a. Of, pertaining to, or employed in, trade or merchandise; as, the merchant service. [1913 Webster] {Merchant bar}, {Merchant iron} or {Merchant steel}, certain common sizes of wrought iron and steel bars. {Merchant service or… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
merchant — mer·chant / mər chənt/ n: a person who trades in goods esp. of a certain kind and possesses expertise in the area of the goods and the practices of trading in them or who employs others with such expertise a warranty that the goods shall be… … Law dictionary
Merchant — Mer chant, v. i. To be a merchant; to trade. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
merchant — ► NOUN 1) a wholesale trader. 2) N. Amer. & Scottish a retail trader. 3) informal, chiefly derogatory a person fond of a particular activity: a speed merchant. ► ADJECTIVE ▪ (of ships, sailors, or shipping activity) involved with commerce. ORIGIN … English terms dictionary
merchant — [mʉr′chənt] n. [ME marchant < OFr marchant < VL * mercatans, prp. of * mercatare, for L mercari, to trade, buy < merx, wares: see MARKET] 1. a person whose business is buying and selling goods for profit; trader, esp. one in the… … English World dictionary
Merchant — Mer chant, n. [OE. marchant, OF. marcheant, F. marchand, fr. LL. mercatans, antis, p. pr. of mercatare to negotiate, L. mercari to traffic, fr. merx, mercis, wares. See {Market}, {Merit}, and cf. {Commerce}.] 1. One who traffics on a large scale … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
merchant — [n] person who sells goods broker, businessperson, consigner, dealer, exporter, handler, jobber, marketer, operator, retailer, salesperson, seller, sender, shipper, shopkeeper, storekeeper, trader, tradesperson, trafficker, tycoon, vendor,… … New thesaurus
Merchant — For other uses, see Merchant (disambiguation). Merchants from Holland and the Middle East trading. A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit. Merchants can be one of two types … Wikipedia
merchant — n. 1 a wholesale trader, esp. with foreign countries. 2 esp. US & Sc. a retail trader. 3 colloq. usu. derog. a person showing a partiality for a specified activity or practice (speed merchant). Phrases and idioms: merchant bank esp. Brit. a bank… … Useful english dictionary