commerce

English

Wikipedia Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle French commerce, from Latin commercium (“commerce, trade”), from com- (“together”) + merx (“good, wares, merchandise”); see merchant, mercenary

Pronunciation

• IPA:
  • US: /ˈkɑ.mɝs/
  • UK: /ˈkɒ.mɜs/ (Formerly accented on the second syllable.)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

commerce (countable and uncountable, plural commerces)

1. (business) The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; especially the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.
2. Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity.
   • Macaulay:

     Fifteen years of thought, observation, and commerce with the world had made him [Bunyan] wiser.

   • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:

     Suppose we held our converse not in words, but in music; those who have a bad ear would find themselves cut off from all near commerce, and no better than foreigners in this big world.

3. (obsolete) Sexual intercourse.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of W. Montagu to this entry?)

4. A round game at cards, in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Hoyle to this entry?)

Synonyms

• trade, traffic, dealings, intercourse, interchange, communion, communication
• See also Wikisaurus:sexual intercourse

Derived terms

• chamber of commerce
• commercial

Translations

large scale trade

• Arabic: تجارة f (tijaara)
• Bulgarian: търговия (bg) f (tǎrgovija)
• Catalan: comerç (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貿易 (zh), 贸易 (zh) (màoyì), 交易 (zh) (jiāoyì), 商業 (zh), 商业 (zh) (shāngyè)

• Czech: obchod (cs) m
• Dutch: handel (nl) m, commercie (nl) f
• Esperanto: komerco
• Finnish: kauppa (fi), kaupankäynti (fi)
• French: commerce (fr) m
• German: Handel (de) m, Kommerz f
• Hebrew: סחר m (sakhar), מסחר (he) m (miskhar)
• Hindi: व्यापार m (vyāpār), तिजारत f (tijārat)
• Japanese: 貿易 (ja) (ぼうえき, bōeki), 交易 (ja) (こうえき, kōeki), 商業 (ja) (しょうぎょう, shōgyō)

• Korean: 무역 (ko) (muyeok) (貿易 (ko)), 교역 (ko) (gyoyeok) (交易 (ko)), 상업 (ko) (sangeop) (商業 (ko))
• Malay: perdagangan
• Manx: cochionneeaght f
• Persian: تجارت (fa) (tejârat)
• Polish: handel (pl) m
• Portuguese: comércio (pt)
• Russian: торговля (ru) f (torgóvlja), коммерция (ru) f (kommércija)
• Spanish: comercio (es) m
• Swedish: handel (sv) c
• Thai: พาณิชย์ (paa-nít), ธุรกิจ (tú-rá-gìt), การค้า (th) (gaan-káa)
• Turkish: ticaret (tr)
• Urdu: تجارت f (tijārat)
• Vietnamese: sự buôn bán (vi), thương mại (vi), thương nghiệp (vi)

social interaction

• Bulgarian: общуване (bg) n (obštuvane)
• Catalan: comerç (ca) m

• Finnish: vuorovaikutus (fi), sosiaalinen kanssakäyminen
• Russian: общение (ru) n (obščénije)

coitus

• Bulgarian: сношение (bg) n (snošenie)
• French: rapports (fr) m pl

• Russian: сношение (ru) n (snošénije)

term in cards

• Bulgarian: наддаване n (naddavane)

• Catalan: comerç (ca) m

Verb

commerce (third-person singular simple present commerces, present participle commercing, simple past and past participle commerced)

1. (dated) To carry on trade; to traffic.

   Beware you commerce not with bankrupts. -B. Jonson.

2. (dated) To hold intercourse; to commune.

   Commercing with himself. -Tennyson.

   Musicians ... taught the people in angelic harmonies to commerce with heaven. -Prof. Wilson.

External links

• commerce in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• commerce in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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French

Etymology

From Middle French commerce, from Latin commercium (“commerce, trade”), from com- (“together”) + merx (“good, wares, merchandise”); see merchant, mercenary.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

Noun

commerce m (plural commerces)

1. commerce, trade
2. store, shop, trader

Derived terms

• commercial