merchant
Pluralmerchants
Verbmerchants, merchanting, merchanted
Pluralmerchants
Formsmerchants, merchanting, merchanted
- 1A person who buys and sells commodities in order to make a profit.
The wool merchant shipped bales of cloth across the channel each spring.
Medieval merchants formed guilds to protect their trade routes.
Similartrader
Note
The core sense, and the one the word's history explains most directly. Middle English marchaunt came through Anglo-Norman marchaunt from mercans, and ultimately from a verb meaning "I trade, deal, sell." A merchant is defined by the dealing, not the making. Trader is its close synonym. The later meanings, from the shop owner to the ship, keep that idea of buying in order to sell again.
- 2The owner or operator of a retail business that sells goods directly to customers.
The merchant restocked her shelves before the busy weekend.
Online merchants must process returns and refunds quickly.
Similarretailer, shopkeeper, seller, vendor, storekeeper
- 3A person noted for a particular kind of activity or behavior, named by the preceding word and usually mentioned with disapproval.
He's a real panic merchant, sure that every small problem is a disaster.
The tabloid relied on rumor merchants to dig up celebrity scandals.
Note
A word that needs a partner in front of it: speed merchant, panic merchant, goal merchant. The tone depends on that partner. Speed merchant scolds someone who drives too fast, but in a match report goal merchant praises a player who scores again and again. When the first word names a fault, expect disapproval. When it names a skill, the phrase can be a compliment.
- 4A vessel used for carrying goods in trade; a merchantman.
A heavily laden merchant rounded the cape under full sail.
The convoy of merchants sailed under the protection of two warships.
Similarmerchantman, trader
Note
Shakespeare puts both meanings side by side in The Tempest (1610–1611). In "the masters of some merchant, and the merchant," the first merchant is the ship whose masters are lost, and the second is the trader who owns the goods. Merchantman avoids that ambiguity. When merchant alone stands for the vessel, words like sail, convoy or cape have to show which is meant.
- 5Living in a region, to buy goods from a non-resident and resell them to another non-resident.
Coastal families merchant silk, buying it from foreign crews and reselling to inland nobles.
He grew rich by merchanting goods he never produced himself.
Note
A regular verb, with the forms merchants, merchanting and merchanted. It turns up as a modifier in phrases like a merchanting service. What separates it from ordinary trading is where the parties are. The dealer works from home, while both the seller and the buyer are outsiders, so the deal is struck between two non-residents through a local hand.
Less common meaning
- 6The ship's officer responsible for the cargo and its commercial dealings; a supercargo.
Note
An obsolete shipboard title. In older sea writing, a merchant aboard may be the officer handling the cargo's sale rather than the ship itself or a trader on shore, and only the surrounding words can settle which is meant. In modern writing, use supercargo. Merchant in this role would be read as the vessel or its owner.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
This word comes from Middle English marchaunt, from Anglo-Norman marchaunt, which traces back through mercans to the verb mercor, meaning 'I trade, deal, sell.'