merchant

§English

Wikipedia

§Alternative forms

• merchaunt (obsolete)

§Etymology

From Middle English marchant, from Anglo-Norman marchant, from Latin mercans (“a buyer”), present participle of mercor (“trade, traffic, buy”), from merx (“merchandise, traffic”), from merere (“to gain, buy, purchase, also deserve, merit”); see mercy and merit.

§Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɜː(ɹ)tʃənt/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tʃənt

§Noun

merchant (plural merchants)

1. A person who traffics in commodities for profit.
2. The owner or operator of a retail business.
3. A trading vessel; a merchantman.
   • 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, II. i. 5:

     Every day, some sailor's wife, / The masters of some merchant, and the merchant, / Have just our theme of woe.

§Derived terms

• merchantable
• merchant bank
• merchant banker
• merchant flag
• merchant fleet
• merchantman
• merchant marine

• mercantile
• merchant navy
• merchant prince
• merchant seaman
• merchant ship
• merchant tailor
• wine merchant

§Related terms

• merchandise
• commerce

§Translations

person who traffics in commodities

• Afrikaans: handelaar, koopman
• Arabic: تاجر m (tājir)

  Egyptian Arabic: تاجر m (tager)

• Catalan: mercader m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 商人 (zh) (shāngrén)

• Czech: kupec m, obchodník m
• Danish: købmand c
• Dutch: koopman (nl) m
• Finnish: kauppias (fi)
• French: marchand (fr) m
• Georgian: ვაჭარი (vačari)
• German: Kaufmann (de) m, Kauffrau (de) f
• Greek: έμπορος (el) m (émporos), έμπορας (el) m (émporas), εμπορευόμενος (el) m (emporevómenos)
• Hungarian: kereskedő (hu)
• Italian: mercante (it) m, commerciante (it)
• Japanese: 商人 (ja) (しょうにん, shōnin)
• Khmer: អ្នកជំនួញ (neak cumnuəɲ)
• Korean: 상인 (ko) (sang-in) (商人 (ko))

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: بازرگان (ku) (bazirgan)

• Lao: ກັບສິນຄ້າ (kap sin khā)
• Latin: mercator, negotiator
• Macedonian: трговец m (t'rgovets)
• Maltese: merkantier m, merkantiera f, tas-suq m
• Nahuatl: oztomecatl
• Norwegian: farmann
• Persian: تاجر (fa) (tâjer), بازرگان (fa) (bâzargân)
• Polish: kupiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: comerciante (pt) m f, mercador (pt) m
• Romanian: negustor (ro), comerciant (ro)
• Russian: торговец (ru) m (torgóvec), купец (ru) m (kupéc) (obsolete)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannaiche m, màlair m, marsal m, malairtiche m
• Slovak: kupec m
• Spanish: comerciante (es) m, mercader (es) f
• Swedish: köpman (sv) c
• Telugu: వ్యాపారి (te) (vyāpāri)
• Thai: ผู้ค้าขาย (phū̂ kĥāk̄hāy)
• Vietnamese: thương gia (vi)

the owner or operator of a retail business

• Italian: commerciante (it), negoziante (it)
• Macedonian: дуќанџија m (duḱándžija)

• Scottish Gaelic: ceannaiche m
• Swedish: köpman (sv) c, handelsman (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} vendisto

• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} tedel

§Verb

merchant (third-person singular simple present merchants, present participle merchanting, simple past and past participle merchanted)

1. As a resident of a region, to buy goods from a non-resident and sell them to another non-resident.

   a merchanting service

§External links

• merchant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• merchant in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• “merchant” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.