merchant
English
/ˈmɝtʃənt/, /ˈmɜːtʃənt/
noun
Definitions
- A person who traffics in commodities for profit.
- The owner or operator of a retail business.
- A trading vessel; a merchantman.
- (obsolete) A supercargo.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English marchant borrowed from Old French marchant derived from Latin mercans (a buyer).
Origin
Latin
mercans
Gloss
a buyer
Timeline
Distribution of cognates by language
Geogrpahic distribution of cognates
Cognates and derived terms
- merchantability English
- merchantable English
- merchantableness English
- merchantess English
- merchantlike English
- merchantly English
- merchantman English
- merchantry English
- merchantwoman English
- nonmerchant English
- nonmerchantable English
- sleaze English
- sleaze-merchant English
- submerchantable English
- unmerchantable English
- wine English
- winemerchant English
- woman English
- mercans Latin
- marchant Middle English
- marchant Old French
- marcheant Old French