merchant

See also: Merchant

English

Alternative forms

• marchant, merchaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Italic *merks

Latin merx

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -or

Latin mercor

Latin mercānsder.

Anglo-Norman marchauntbor.

Middle English marchaunt

English merchant

From Middle English marchaunt, from Anglo-Norman marchaunt, from mercans, from the verb mercor (“to trade, deal, sell”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɜːtʃənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɝt͡ʃənt/
• *

  Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tʃənt
• Hyphenation: mer‧chant

Noun

merchant (plural merchants)

2. A person who traffics in commodities for profit.

   Synonym: trader

   Hyponyms: merchantman, merchantwoman, merchantess

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

5. (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.

6. (obsolete) A supercargo.

Derived terms

• caper merchant
• coal merchant
• country merchant
• dole merchant
• fanny merchant
• feather merchant
• Happy Merchant
• hop merchant
• knockout merchant
• law merchant
• merchantability
• merchantable
• merchant bank
• merchant banker
• merchant ensign
• merchantess
• merchant flag
• merchant fleet
• merchanthood
• merchant iron
• merchantish
• merchantlike
• merchantly
• merchantman
• merchant marine
• merchant mariner
• merchant navy
• merchant of death
• merchant prince
• merchantry
• merchant seaman
• merchant ship
• merchant shipping
• merchant tailor
• merchant venturer
• merchantwoman
• nonmerchant
• rip-off merchant
• scrap merchant
• skin merchant
• sleaze-merchant
• speed merchant
• spin merchant
• timber merchant
• Turkey merchant
• wind-up merchant
• winemerchant
• 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, sövdəgər
• Bashkir: сауҙагәр (sawðagär)
• Belarusian: гандля́р m (handljár), гандля́рка f (handljárka), купе́ц m (kupjéc) (dated)
• Bengali: বণিক (bn) (bonik), ব্যবসায়ী (bn) (bêbśaẏi)
• Bulgarian: търго́вец (bg) m (tărgóvec), търго́вка f (tărgóvka)
• Burmese: ကုန်သည် (my) (kunsany)
• Catalan: mercader (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 商人 (soeng¹ jan⁴), 商家 (soeng¹ gaa¹)

  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, ^{(please verify)} 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, Händler (de) m
• Greek: έμπορος (el) m (émporos), έμπορας (el) m (émporas), εμπόρισσα (el) f (empórissa), εμπορευόμενος (el) m (emporevómenos)

  Ancient Greek: 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)
• Ingrian: torgumees, kaupanmees
• 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)

  Old Javanese: waṇija

• Kazakh: саудагер (sawdager), сатушы (satuwšı)
• Khmer: អ្នកជំនួញ (nĕək cumnuəñ), ឈ្មួញ (km) (chmuəñ), តាយប៉ាន (taay paan), ពាណិជ (km) (piənɨc)
• Korean: 상인(商人) (ko) (sang'in)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بازرگان (bazirgan)

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

• Kyrgyz: соодагер (ky) (soodager)
• Lao: ກັບສິນຄ້າ (kap sin khā)
• Latin: mercator (la), negotiator
• Latvian: lieltirgotājs m
• Lithuanian: prekybininkas m
• Macedonian: трговец m (trgovec)
• Malay: pedagang, saudagar, biaperi
• Malayalam: വ്യാപാരി (ml) (vyāpāri)
• Maltese: merkantier m, merkantiera f, tas-suq m
• Marathi: व्यापारी (mr) m (vyāpārī)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: худалдаачин (mn) (xudaldaačin)

• Nahuatl: oztomecatl
• Norwegian:

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

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

• Old English: massere n
• Pali: vāṇija m
• Pashto: تاجر (ps) m (tājér), سوداګر m (sawdāgár), وپاري m (wapãṛi)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: تاجِر (tâjer), بازَرْگان (bâzargân), سُوْداگَر (sowdâgar)

• Plautdietsch: Koopmaun m
• Polish: kupiec (pl) m, handlarz (pl) m, handlarka (pl) f
• 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) m (vāṇija)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannaiche m, màlair m, marsal m, malairtiche m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: тр̀говац m, тр̀го̄вкиња m

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

• Slovak: kupec m, obchodník m
• Slovene: trgovec (sl) m
• Spanish: comerciante (es) m, mercader (es) m or f, mercadante m, mercante (es) m (may refer to the buyer), mercador m (disused), mercadero (es) m (disused)
• Swahili: mfanyabiashara (sw)
• Swedish: köpman (sv) c, handlare (sv) c
• Tajik: савдогар (savdogar), тоҷир (tojir), бозоргон (bozorgon)
• Tatar: сәүдәгәр (tt) (säwdägär)
• 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)
• Tocharian B: (male) käryorttau m, (female) käryorttautsa f
• Turkish: tüccar (tr), tacir (tr)
• Turkmen: söwdagär
• Ukrainian: торго́вець m (torhóvecʹ), купе́ць m (kupécʹ) (dated)
• Unami: mèmhalamùnt
• Urdu: سَوداگَر m (saudāgar), تاجِر m (tājir)
• Uyghur: ئوقەتچى (oqetchi), تىجرەتچى (tijretchi), سودىگەر (sodiger)
• Uzbek: savdogar (uz)
• Vietnamese: thương gia (vi)
• Welsh: marsiandwr (cy) m, marsiandwyr (cy) m pl
• Yiddish: הענדלער m (hendler), קויפֿמאַן m (koyfman)
• Zulu: uḿhwebi class 1/2

the owner or operator of a retail business

• Danish: købmand c, handelsmand c
• 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

• Polish: właściciel sklepu m, właścicielka sklepu f
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannaiche m
• Swedish: köpman (sv) c, handelsman (sv) c
• Turkish: perakendeci (tr)
• Unami: mèmhalamùnt
• Welsh: marsiandwr (cy) m, marsiandwyr (cy) m pl

trading vessel — see cargo ship

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. 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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “merchant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “merchant” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.