merchant

See also: Merchant

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

merchant

Alternative forms

marchant, merchaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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.
- 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.
(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.
(obsolete) A supercargo.

Derived terms

Related terms

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
Bashkir: сауҙагәр (sawźagər)
Belarusian: гандля́р m (handljár), гандля́рка f (handljárka), купе́ц m (kupjéc) (dated)
Bengali: বণিক (bn) (bonik), ব্যবসায়ী (bn) (bêbśaẏi)
Bulgarian: търго́вец (bg) m (tǎrgóvec), търго́вка f (tǎrgóvka)
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, Händler (de) m
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
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)
Kazakh: саудагер (saudager), сатушы (satuşy)
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
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
Old Javanese: waṇija
Pali: vāṇija m
Pashto: تاجر (ps) m (tāǰér), سوداګر m (sawdāgár), وپاري m (wapãṛi)
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)
Sanskrit: वाणिज (sa) m (vāṇija)
Scottish Gaelic: ceannaiche m, màlair m, marsal m, malairtiche m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: тр̀говац m, тр̀го̄вкиња m

Roman: tr̀govac (sh) m, tr̀gōvkinja (sh) f
Slovak: kupec m
Slovene: trgovec (sl) m
Spanish: comerciante (es) m, mercader (es) f, mercante (es) m (may refer to the buyer), mercadante m, mercador m (disused)
Swahili: mfanyabiashara
Swedish: köpman (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)
Urdu: سوداگر m (saudāgar)
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

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 (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)

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