entrepôt

See also: entrepot

English

WOTD – 20 March 2023

Etymology

PIE word
*h₁én

Borrowed from French entrepôt, entrepost (“temporary storage of goods; place for temporary storage and distribution of goods”) (archaic), from entreposer (“to store goods in a warehouse”), with the ending influenced by dépôt (“store, warehouse, depot”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɒntɹəˈpəʊ/, /ˈɒntɹəpəʊ/, /ˈɒ̃-/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɑntɹəˈpoʊ/
• Rhymes: -əʊ
• Hyphenation: en‧tre‧pôt

Noun

entrepôt (plural entrepôts) (business)

1. A city, port, or other place where merchandise is sent for import, processing, distribution, and/or export, especially one where such merchandise is exempt from some customs duties; hence, a commercial centre.
   • 1999, Murray A. Rubenstein, “Introduction”, in Murray A. Rubinstein, editor, Taiwan: A New History (An East Gate Book; Taiwan in the Modern World), Armonk, N.Y., London: M[yron] E. Sharpe, →ISBN, page x:

     South of Taichung is the old port town of Lu-kang. Here again we come face to face with Taiwan's past, sometimes in dramatic fashion. Founded in the seventeenth century, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Lu-kang was an important port city with strong ties to Ch'uan-chou—the eighteenth-century classic but declining entrepôt of southern Min Fukien.

   • 2012 October 20, “Immigration: The Tories’ barmiest policy”, in The Economist‎^[1], London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2012-12-06:

     So why is Mr [David] Cameron's government pursuing an immigration policy that is creating red tape, stifling entrepreneurs and hobbling Britain? The country has, in effect, installed a "keep out" sign over the white cliffs of Dover. Even as Mr Cameron defends the City of London as a global financial centre, and takes planeloads of business folk on foreign trips, his government ratchets up measures that would turn an entrepôt into a fortress.

2. (archaic)
   1. The temporary storage of merchandise, especially for subsequent distribution or export.
   2. (also figuratively) A depot or warehouse for temporarily storing merchandise.

Alternative forms

• entrepot

Translations

city, port, or other place where merchandise is sent for import, processing, distribution, and/or export

• Arabic: ميناء إعادة التصدير
• Bulgarian: ентрепот (entrepot), безмитно пристанище (bezmitno pristanište)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 轉口港／转口港 (zhuǎnkǒugǎng)

• Dutch: douane-entrepot
• Finnish: välivarasto, varasto (fi), makasiini (fi), pakkahuone (fi)
• German: Packhaus n, Zolllager n
• Ido: staplo (io)
• Macedonian: прето́варен пункт m (pretóvaren punkt)
• Russian: пакга́уз (ru) (pakgáuz) (rail transport), перева́лочный пу́нкт m (pereváločnyj púnkt)

commercial centre

• Finnish: kaupankäynnin keskus
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

temporary storage of merchandise, especially for subsequent distribution or export

• Finnish: välivarastointi
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can

depot or warehouse for temporarily storing merchandise — see depot,‎ warehouse

Further reading

• entrepôt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Deverbal from entreposer (“to store goods in a warehouse”), with the ending influenced by dépôt (“store, warehouse, depot”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.tʁə.po/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

entrepôt m (plural entrepôts)

1. warehouse; storehouse

   Near-synonyms: dépôt, magasin

Further reading

• “entrepôt”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• optèrent
• péteront