merchant

Meanings

Noun

• A person who traffics in commodities for profit.
• The owner or operator of a retail business.
• A trading vessel; a merchantman.
• Someone who is noted for a stated type of activity or behaviour.
• A supercargo.

Verb

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

Origin

• From Middle English marchaunt, from Anglo-Norman marchaunt, from Vulgar Latin *mercatantem, accusative of *mercatans, from the verb *mercatare, from Latin mercātus ("market").