merchant

See also: Merchant

English

Alternative forms

• merchaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English marchant, from Old French marchant, from Latin mercans (“a buyer”), present participle of mercor (“trade, traffic, buy”), from merx (“merchandise, traffic”), itself probably ultimately deriving from Etruscan; see also mercy.

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.
   • 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.

4. (obsolete) A supercargo.

Derived terms

• merchantable
• merchant bank
• merchant banker
• merchant flag
• merchant fleet
• merchantman
• merchant marine
• merchant navy
• merchant prince
• merchant seaman
• merchant ship
• merchant tailor
• speed 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)

  Egyptian Arabic: تاجر‎ m (tāgir)

• Armenian: վաճառական (hy) (vačaṙakan)
• Azerbaijani: tacir
• Belarusian: гандля́р m (handljár), гандля́рка f (handljárka), купе́ц m (kupjéc) (dated)
• Bengali: বণিক (bôṇik), ব্যবসায়ী (bn) (bjôbsayī)
• Bulgarian: търго́вец m (tǎrgóvec)
• 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
• Irish: ceannaí m
• Italian: mercante (it) m, mercantessa f, commerciante (it) m or f
• Japanese: 商人 (ja) (しょうにん, shōnin)
• Kazakh: саудагер (sawdager), сатушы (kk) (satwşı)
• Khmer: អ្នកជំនួញ (nĕək cumnuəñ), ឈ្មួញ (km) (chmuəñ), តាយប៉ាន (taay paan), ពាណិជ (km) (piənɨc)
• Korean: 상인 (ko) (sang-in) (商人 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: tacîr (ku), bazirgan (ku)

  Sorani: بازرگان‎ (ku) (bazirgan)

• 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: худалдаачин (mn) (hudaldaačin)
• Nahuatl: oztomecatl
• Norwegian:

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

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

• Pashto: تاجر‎ (ps) m (tāǰér)
• Persian: تاجر‎ (fa) (tâjer), بازرگان‎ (fa) (bâzargân), سوداگر‎ (fa) (sowdâgar)
• 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)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannaiche m, màlair m, marsal m, malairtiche m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тр̀говац m

  Roman: tr̀govac (sh) m

• 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)
• 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)
• Turkmen: söwdagär
• Ukrainian: торго́вець m (torhóvecʹ), купе́ць m (kupécʹ) (dated)
• Urdu: سوداگر‎ m (saudāgar)
• Uyghur: ئوقەتچى‎ (oqetchi), تىجرەتچى‎ (tijretchi)
• Uzbek: savdogar (uz)
• Vietnamese: thương gia (vi)
• Welsh: marsiandwr m, marsiandwyr m pl
• Yiddish: הענדלער‎ m (hendler), קויפֿמאַן‎ m (koyfman)
• Zulu: uḿhwebi class 1/2

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, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• “merchant” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.