trade
pronunciation
How to pronounce trade in British English:
UK [treɪd]
How to pronounce trade in American English:
US [treɪd]
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- Noun:
- the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services
- people who perform a particular kind of skilled work
- an equal exchange
- the skilled practice of a practical occupation
- a particular instance of buying or selling
- the business given to a commercial establishment by its customers
- steady winds blowing from east to west above and below the equator
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- Verb:
- engage in the trade of
- turn in as payment or part payment for a purchase
- be traded at a certain price or under certain conditions
- exchange or give (something) in exchange for
- do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood
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- Adjective:
- relating to or used in or intended for trade or commerce
Word Origin
- trade
- trade: [14] Trade originally meant ‘way, track’. Not until the 16th century did the modern sense ‘buying and selling’ emerge, via ‘regular path followed by someone’ and ‘business pursued by someone’. Etymologically, it amounts to a ‘trodden’ path; for it was borrowed from Middle Low German trade ‘track’, which goes back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *trad-, *tred-, source also of English tread and trot.=> tread, trot
- trade (n.)
- late 14c., "path, track, course of action," introduced by the Hanse merchants, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German trade "track, course" (probably originally of a ship), cognate with Old English tredan (see tread (v.)). Sense of "one's habitual business" (1540s) developed from the notion of "way, course, manner of life" (mid-15c.); sense of "buying and selling, exchange of commodities" is from 1550s. Meaning "act of trading" is from 1829. Trade-name is from 1821; trade-route is from 1873; trade-war is from 1899. Trade union is attested from 1831. Trade wind (1640s) has nothing to do with commerce, but preserves the obsolete sense of "in a habitual or regular course."
- trade (v.)
- 1540s, "to tread a path," from trade (n.). Meaning "to occupy oneself (in something)" is recorded from c. 1600. Meaning "to barter" is by 1793. The U.S. sports team sense of "to exchange one player for another" is attested from 1899. Related: Traded; trading. To trade down is attested from 1942; trade up from 1959. Trade places "exchange situations" is from 1917. Trading post is recorded from 1796. Trading stamp, given by merchants and exchangeable for goods, is from 1897.
Example
- 1. Do they want fair trade ?
- 2. Capital and trade flows collapsed .
- 3. Cities are products of trade .
- 4. That requires markets and trade .
- 5. Syngenta says it has trade secrets to protect .