merchant

See also: Merchant

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:

merchant

Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

merchaunt (obsolete)

Etymology[edit]

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[edit]

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɝtʃənt/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɜːtʃənt/
Hyphenation: mer‧chant
Audio (US)
(file)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tʃənt

Noun[edit]

merchant (plural merchants)

A person who traffics in commodities for profit.
Synonym: trader
The owner or operator of a retail business.
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.
(obsolete) A supercargo.

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

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
Belarusian: гандля́р m (handljár), гандля́рка f (handljárka), купе́ц m (kupjéc) (dated)
Bengali: বণিক (bônik), ব্যবসায়ী (bn) (bjôbśaẏi)
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:
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: худалдаачин (mn) (khudaldaachin)
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)
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)
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), 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[edit]

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

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