broker
pronunciation
How to pronounce broker in British English:
UK [ˈbrəʊkə(r)]
How to pronounce broker in American English:
US [ˈbroʊkər]
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- Noun:
- a businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for a commission
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- Verb:
- act as a broker
Word Origin
- broker
- broker: [14] Broker has no connection with the past tense of break. It comes from Anglo- Norman brocour ‘small trader’, but its ultimate origin is not clear. A variant Anglo-Norman form abrocour has fuelled speculation as to a link with Spanish alboroque ‘sealing of a bargain’ and Portuguese alborcar ‘barter’, which are presumably of Arabic origin (the alrepresenting the Arabic definite article); but other etymologists have sought to link the word with broach, as if the underlying sense were ‘someone who sells wine from [that is, by broaching] the cask’, and hence any ‘retailer’.
- broker (n.)
- late 14c., from Anglo-French brocour "small trader," from abrokur "retailer of wine, tapster;" perhaps from Portuguese alborcar "barter," but more likely from Old French brocheor, from brochier "to broach, tap, pierce (a keg)," from broche "pointed tool" (see broach (n.)), giving original sense of "wine dealer," hence "retailer, middleman, agent." In Middle English, used contemptuously of peddlers and pimps.
- broker (v.)
- 1630s (implied in brokering), from broker (n.). Related: Brokered.
Example
- 1. I asked my insurance broker what the three biggest small-business insurance failings were .
- 2. The mortgage broker told me there was no record of my existence , financially speaking .
- 3. You can buy them through any decent broker .
- 4. His father became an insurance broker .
- 5. Regulators may also broker forced marriages .