merchant
pronunciation
How to pronounce merchant in British English:
UK [ˈmɜːtʃənt]
How to pronounce merchant in American English:
US [ˈmɜːrtʃənt]
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- Noun:
- a businessperson engaged in retail trade
Word Origin
- 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.=> commerce, market, mercury
- merchant (n.)
- c. 1200, from Anglo-French marchaunt "merchant, shopkeeper" (Old French marcheant, Modern French marchand), from Vulgar Latin *mercatantem (nominative *mercatans) "a buyer," present participle of *mercatare, frequentative of Latin mercari "to trade, traffic, deal in" (see market). Meaning "fellow, chap" is from 1540s; with a specific qualifier, and suggesting someone who deals in it (such as speed merchant "one who enjoys fast driving"), from 1914.
- merchant (adj.)
- c. 1400, from merchant (n.) and from Old French marcheant (adj.).
Example
- 1. A baghdad merchant sends a servant to buy provisions .
- 2. Folks tell me I 'm just a born merchant .
- 3. The us remains the world 's arms merchant because of weapons complexity and flexibility .
- 4. A pound of that same merchant 's flesh is yours .
- 5. It was probably made for a travelling merchant .