auction

English

Etymology

From Latin auctiō (“an increase, auction”), from Latin augere (“to increase”).

Pronunciation

enPR: ôk'shən

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɔːkʃən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɔkʃən/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑkʃən/

    • Audio (US):

      (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːkʃən

enPR: ŏk'shən

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɔkʃən/
• Rhymes: -ɒkʃən

Noun

auction (plural auctions)

1. A public event where goods or property are sold to the highest bidder.
   • 2014 July 12, “Competition, hammered”, in The Economist, volume 412, number 8895:

     Auctions come in a wide variety. In a “Dutch auction”, often used to sell flowers and fruit, prices start high and gradually drop until a bidder is willing to pay up. A “Japanese auction” is a bit like poker: bids rise with each round and anyone who wants to win must bid every time. Vendors using auctions rid themselves of the headache of choosing prices and instead just pick the rules bidders must follow.

2. (bridge) The first stage of a deal, in which players bid to determine the final contract.

Synonyms

• roup sale

Derived terms

• auctionable
• auction block
• auction bridge
• auction call
• auctioneer
• auctioneeress
• auctioner
• auction-goer
• auctiongoer
• auction house
• auctionlike
• auction pitch
• auction theory
• candle auction
• cyberauction
• dollar auction
• Dutch auction
• e-auction
• jam auction
• knockout auction
• midauction
• nonauction
• postauction
• preauction
• re-auction
• reauction
• silent auction
• slave auction
• Vickrey auction

 

Related terms

• augment

 

Translations

public sales event

• Albanian: ankand (sq) m
• Arabic: مَزَاد m (mazād), مُزَايَدَة f (muzāyada)

  Egyptian Arabic: مزاد m (mazād)

• Armenian: աճուրդ (hy) (ačurd)
• Asturian: puya f
• Azerbaijani: auksion (az)
• Belarusian: аўкцыён m (aŭkcyjón)
• Bengali: নিলাম (bn) (nilam)
• Bulgarian: търг (bg) m (tǎrg), аукцио́н (bg) m (aukción)
• Catalan: subhasta (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拍賣 / 拍卖 (zh) (pāimài), 競賣 / 竞卖 (zh) (jìngmài), 競拍 / 竞拍 (jìngpāi)

• Czech: aukce (cs) f, dražba (cs) f
• Danish: auktion c
• Dutch: veiling (nl) f
• Esperanto: aŭkcio
• Estonian: oksjon, enampakkumine
• Finnish: huutokauppa (fi)
• French: enchères (fr) f pl, vente aux enchères (fr) f
• Galician: poxa (gl) f, almoeda f, proia f, subhasta (gl) f, leiloio m, venduta f
• Georgian: აუქციონი (aukcioni)
• German: Versteigerung (de) f, Auktion (de) f
• Greek: δημοπρασία (el) f (dimoprasía), πλειστηριασμός (el) m (pleistiriasmós)
• Hebrew: מכירה פומבית \ מְכִירָה פֻּמְבִּית f (m'khirá pumbít)
• Hindi: नीलामी (hi) f (nīlāmī), नीलाम (hi) m (nīlām)
• Hungarian: árverés (hu), aukció (hu)
• Icelandic: uppboð (is) n
• Ido: auciono (io)
• Indonesian: lelang (id)
• Irish: ceant m, ceantáil f
• Italian: asta (it) f
• Japanese: 競売 (ja) (きょうばい, kyōbai, せりうり, seri-uri), 競 (ja) (せり, seri), オークション (ja) (ōkushon)
• Kazakh: аукцион (auksion)
• Korean: 경매(競賣) (ko) (gyeongmae), 옥션 (oksyeon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: mezad (ku) f, muzayede (ku)

• Kyrgyz: аукцион (ky) (auktsion)
• Lao: ເລຫຼັງ (lē lang)
• Latin: auctiō f
• Latvian: ūtrupe f, izsole f
• Lithuanian: aukcionas m
• Macedonian: аукција f (aukcija)
• Malay: lelong (ms)
• Maori: mākete
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дуудлага худалдаа (duudlaga xudaldaa), үнэ хаялцуулах (üne xajalcuulax)

  Mongolian: ᠳᠠᠭᠤᠳᠠᠯᠭ᠎ᠠ
  ᠬᠤᠳᠠᠯᠳᠤᠭ᠎ᠠ (daɣudalg-a qudaldug-a), ᠦᠨ᠎ᠡ
  ᠬᠠᠶᠠᠯᠴᠠᠭᠤᠯᠬᠤ (ün-e qayalčaɣulqu)

• Norman: vendue f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: auksjon m

  Nynorsk: auksjon m

• Ottoman Turkish: مزایده (müzayede)
• Pashto: مزايده f (mozāyeda), ليلام m (lilām)
• Persian: مزایده (fa) (mozâyede)
• Polish: aukcja (pl) f, licytacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: leilão (pt) f
• Romanian: licitaţie (ro) f
• Russian: аукцио́н (ru) m (aukción)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ау̀кција f

  Roman: aùkcija (sh) f

• Slovak: dražba (sk) f
• Slovene: dražba (sl) f
• Spanish: subasta (es) f, remate (es), almoneda (es) f, licitación (es) f
• Swahili: mnada (sw)
• Swedish: auktion (sv) c
• Tagalog: pasalukan, amboy
• Tajik: музояда (muzoyada), ауксион (auksion)
• Telugu: వేలం (te) (vēlaṁ)
• Thai: ขายทอดตลาด (th) (kǎai-tɔ̂ɔt-dtà-làat), การประมูล (th) (gaan-bprà-muun)
• Turkish: açık arttırma, müzayede (tr), mezat (tr)
• Turkmen: auksion
• Ukrainian: аукціо́н (uk) m (aukción)
• Urdu: نِیلامی f (nīlāmī), نِیلام m (nīlām)
• Uzbek: auksion (uz), auktsion
• Vietnamese: bán đấu giá (𧸝鬬價), đấu giá (vi) (鬬價)
• Welsh: arwerthiant m
• Yiddish: ליציטאַציע (litsitatsye)

Verb

auction (third-person singular simple present auctions, present participle auctioning, simple past and past participle auctioned)

1. To sell at an auction.

Derived terms

• auctionability
• auctioneer
• auction off
• unauctioned

 

Translations

to sell at an auction

• Armenian: վաճառել աճուրդով (vačaṙel ačurdov)
• Asturian: puyar, puxar
• Bulgarian: продавам на търг (prodavam na tǎrg)
• Catalan: subhastar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拍賣 / 拍卖 (zh) (pāimài)

• Czech: dražit, licitovat
• Dutch: veilen (nl)
• Finnish: myydä huutokaupassa, huutokaupata (fi)
• French: vente aux enchères (fr)
• Galician: poxar (gl), piñorar, rular (gl), subhastar (gl)
• German: versteigern (de)
• Greek: πλειστηριάζω (el) (pleistiriázo)

  Ancient: ἀποκηρύσσω (apokērússō)

• Irish: cuir ar ceant, cuir ceant ar, ceantáil
• Italian: vendere all'asta, mettere all'asta
• Japanese: 競りにかける (せりにかける, seri ni kakeru) (put up for auction)
• Korean: 경매하다 (gyeongmaehada)
• Latin: praeco
• Malay: melelong
• Maori: mākete
• Persian: مزایده (fa) (mozâyede)
• Polish: aukcjonować impf (dated)
• Portuguese: leiloar (pt)
• Russian: продава́ть с аукцио́на (prodavátʹ s aukcióna), продава́ть с молотка́ (prodavátʹ s molotká)
• Slovene: dražiti (sl)
• Spanish: subastar (es), rematar (es), licitar (es)
• Swedish: auktionera (sv)
• Telugu: వేలం వేయు (vēlaṁ vēyu)
• Turkish: açık artırma (tr), müzayede (tr)

See also

• bid
• bidder

Anagrams

• caution, tauonic