hawker

¹ American  

[haw-ker] / ˈhɔ kər /

noun

1. a person who hunts with hawks or other birds of prey.

---

hawker ² American  

[haw-ker] / ˈhɔ kər /

noun

1. a person who peddles or hawks wares by shouting their offerings in the street or going from door to door; peddler.

---

hawker ¹ British  

/ ˈhɔːkə /

noun

1. a person who travels from place to place selling goods

---

hawker ² British  

/ ˈhɔːkə /

noun

1. a person who hunts with hawks, falcons, etc

---

Etymology

Origin of hawker¹

before 1000; Middle English; Old English hafecere. See hawk ¹, -er ¹

Origin of hawker²

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Middle Low German haker “retail dealer”; akin to Middle Dutch hac in same sense; cf. huckster

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hawker

Or the gallant, pragmatic 8-year-old street hawker selling watercress in Victorian London: “All my money I earns I puts in a club and draws it out to buy clothes with.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Street food isn’t just hawker carts and smoke-filled alleys.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

The ding on the movie is that Timothée Chalamet’s self-centered striver isn’t that different from Adam Sandler’s diamond hawker in “Uncut Gems.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026

Social distancing meant every second seat was taped off at a hawker centre or cinema.

From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2023

The hawker took the money from me and made off quickly—no doubt fearing that I would come to my senses.

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya