merchant

See also: Merchant

English

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

• (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.
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

Terms derived from merchant

• mercantile
• 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

• merchandise

Translations

person who traffics in commodities

• Afrikaans: handelaar, koopman
• Arabic: تَاجِر‎‎ m (tājir)
• Armenian: վաճառական (hy) (vačaṙakan)
• Belarusian: гандля́р m (handljár)
• Bulgarian: търго́вец m (tǎrgóvec)
• Catalan: mercader (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 商人 (zh) (shāngrén)

• Czech: kupec (cs) m, obchodník (cs) m
• Danish: købmand c
• Dutch: koopman (nl) m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: kauppias (fi)
• French: marchand (fr) m
• Georgian: ვაჭარი (vač̣ari)
• German: Kaufmann (de) m, Kauffrau (de) f
• Greek: έμπορος (el) m (émporos), έμπορας (el) m (émporas), εμπορευόμενος (el) m (emporevómenos)
• Hindi: व्यापारी (hi) m (vyāpārī)
• Hungarian: kereskedő (hu)
• Irish: ceannaí m
• 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
• Latvian: lieltirgotājs m
• Lithuanian: prekybininkas m
• Macedonian: трговец m (trgovec)
• Maltese: merkantier m, merkantiera f, tas-suq m
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• 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: торго́вец (ru) m (torgóvec), купе́ц (ru) m (kupéc) (obsolete)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannaiche m, màlair m, marsal m, malairtiche m
• Slovak: kupec m
• Spanish: comerciante (es) m, mercader (es) f
• Swahili: mfanyabiashara
• Swedish: köpman (sv) c
• Telugu: వ్యాపారి (te) (vyāpāri)
• Thai: ผู้ค้าขาย
• Turkish: tüccar (tr)
• Ukrainian: торго́вець m (torhóvecʹ)
• Vietnamese: thương gia (vi)
• Welsh: marsiandwr m, marsiandwyr m pl
• Yiddish: הענדלער‎‎ m (hendler), קויפֿמאַן‎‎ m (koyfman)

the owner or operator of a retail business

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