merchant

See also: Merchant

English

Alternative forms

• merchaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English marchaunt, from Anglo-Norman marchaunt, from Vulgar Latin *mercatantem, accusative of *mercatans, from the verb *mercatare, from Latin mercātus (“market”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɝtʃənt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɜːtʃənt/
• Hyphenation: mer‧chant

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tʃənt

Noun

merchant (plural merchants)

1. A person who traffics in commodities for profit.

   Synonym: trader

2. The owner or operator of a retail business.
3. A trading vessel; a merchantman.
   • 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i], line 5:

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

4. (informal, sometimes derogatory) Someone who is noted for a stated type of activity or behaviour.

   He's some kind of speed merchant — he drives way too fast.

   Goal merchant Smith scored twice again in the match against Mudchester Rovers.

5. (obsolete) A supercargo.

Derived terms

• coal merchant
• merchantable
• merchant bank
• merchant banker
• merchant flag
• merchant fleet
• merchantman
• merchant marine
• merchant navy
• merchant prince
• merchant seaman
• merchant ship
• merchant tailor
• speed merchant
• Turkey merchant
• wind-up merchant
• wine merchant

 

Related terms

• mercantile
• merchandise

Translations

person who traffics in commodities

• Afrikaans: handelaar, koopman
• Albanian: tregtar (sq) m
• Arabic: تَاجِر‎ m (tājir), تَاجِرَة‎ f (tājira)

  Egyptian Arabic: تاجر‎ m (tāgir)

• Armenian: վաճառական (hy) (vačaṙakan)
• Azerbaijani: tacir
• Bashkir: сауҙагәр (sawðagär)
• Belarusian: гандля́р m (handljár), гандля́рка f (handljárka), купе́ц m (kupjéc) (dated)
• Bengali: বণিক (bônik), ব্যবসায়ী (bn) (bjôbśaẏi)
• Bulgarian: търго́вец m (tǎrgóvec), търго́вка f (tǎrgóvka)
• Burmese: ကုန်သည် (my) (kunsany)
• Catalan: mercader (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 商人 (zh) (shāngrén), 商家 (zh) (shāngjiā)

• Czech: kupec (cs) m, obchodník (cs) m
• Danish: købmand c
• Dutch: koopman (nl) m, koopvrouw (nl) f
• Esperanto: komercisto, komercistiĉo (male; neologism), komercistino (female)
• Estonian: kaupmees
• Finnish: kauppias (fi)
• French: marchand (fr) m, marchande (fr) f
• Georgian: ვაჭარი (vač̣ari)
• German: Kaufmann (de) m, Kauffrau (de) f
• Greek: έμπορος (el) m (émporos), έμπορας (el) m (émporas), εμπόρισσα (el) f (empórissa), εμπορευόμενος (el) m (emporevómenos)

  Ancient: ἔμπορος m (émporos)

• Hebrew: סוֹחֵר‎ m (sokhér)
• Hindi: व्यापारी (hi) m (vyāpārī), सौदागर (hi) m (saudāgar)
• Hungarian: kereskedő (hu)
• Icelandic: kaupmaður (is) m
• Indonesian: saudagar (id), pedagang (id)
• Irish: ceannaí m
• Italian: mercante (it) m, mercantessa f, commerciante (it) m or f
• Japanese: 商人 (ja) (しょうにん, shōnin)
• Javanese: sodagar, wong dagang (jv)
• Kazakh: саудагер (sawdager), сатушы (kk) (satwşı)
• Khmer: អ្នកជំនួញ (nĕək cumnuəñ), ឈ្មួញ (km) (chmuəñ), តាយប៉ាន (taay paan), ពាណិជ (km) (piənɨc)
• Korean: 상인(商人) (ko) (sang'in)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بازرگان‎ (ku) (bazirgan)

  Northern Kurdish: tacîr (ku), bazirgan (ku)

• Kyrgyz: соодагер (ky) (soodager)
• Lao: ກັບສິນຄ້າ (kap sin khā)
• Latin: mercator, negotiator
• Latvian: lieltirgotājs m
• Lithuanian: prekybininkas m
• Macedonian: трговец m (trgovec)

• Malay: pedagang, saudagar, biaperi
• Maltese: merkantier m, merkantiera f, tas-suq m
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: худалдаачин (mn) (khudaldaachin)

• Nahuatl: oztomecatl
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kjøpmann (no) m, farmann m (traveling, archaic)

  Nynorsk: kjøpmann m, farmann m (traveling, archaic)

• Old Javanese: waṇija
• Pashto: تاجر‎ (ps) m (tāǰér), سوداګر‎ m (sawdāgár), وپاري‎‎ m (waрãṛi)
• Persian: تاجر‎ (fa) (tâjer), بازرگان‎ (fa) (bâzargân), سوداگر‎ (fa) (sowdâgar)
• Plautdietsch: Koopmaun m
• Polish: kupiec (pl) m
• Portuguese: comerciante (pt) m or f, mercador (pt) m
• Romanian: negustor (ro), comerciant (ro)
• Russian: торго́вец (ru) m (torgóvec), купе́ц (ru) m (kupéc) (obsolete)
• Sanskrit: वाणिज (sa) (vāṇija)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannaiche m, màlair m, marsal m, malairtiche m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тр̀говац m, тр̀го̄вкиња m

  Roman: tr̀govac (sh) m, tr̀gōvkinja (sh) f

• Slovak: kupec m
• Slovene: trgovec (sl) m
• Spanish: comerciante (es) m, mercader (es) f
• Swahili: mfanyabiashara
• Swedish: köpman (sv) c
• Tajik: савдогар (savdogar), тоҷир (tojir), бозоргон (bozorgon)
• Tatar: сәүдәгәр (tt) (säüdägär)
• Telugu: వ్యాపారి (te) (vyāpāri)
• Thai: วาณิช (th) (waa-nít), คนค้า (kon-káa), พาณิช (paa-nít), พ่อค้า (th) (pɔ̂ɔ-káa) (male), แม่ค้า (th) (mɛ̂ɛ-káa) (female)
• Turkish: tüccar (tr), tacir (tr)
• Turkmen: söwdagär
• Ukrainian: торго́вець m (torhóvecʹ), купе́ць m (kupécʹ) (dated)
• Urdu: سوداگر‎ m (saudāgar)
• Uyghur: ئوقەتچى‎ (oqetchi), تىجرەتچى‎ (tijretchi), سودىگەر‎ (sodiger)
• Uzbek: savdogar (uz)
• Vietnamese: thương gia (vi)
• Welsh: marsiandwr m, marsiandwyr m pl
• Yiddish: הענדלער‎ m (hendler), קויפֿמאַן‎ m (koyfman)
• Zulu: uḿhwebi 1 or 2

the owner or operator of a retail business

• Finnish: kauppias (fi)
• Italian: commerciante (it) m or f, negoziante (it) m or f
• Macedonian: дуќанџија m (duḱandžija)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: detaljist m, detaljhandler m, kjøpmann (no) m, kjøpmann (no) m, handelsmann (no) m

  Nynorsk: detaljist m, detaljhandlar m, kjøpmann m, handelsmann m

• Scottish Gaelic: ceannaiche m
• Swedish: köpman (sv) c, handelsman (sv) c
• Turkish: perakendeci (tr)
• Welsh: marsiandwr m, marsiandwyr m pl

trading vessel — see cargo ship

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout § 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

Further reading

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