hawker

¹ American  

[haw-ker] / ˈhɔ kər /

noun

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

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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.

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hawker ¹ British  

/ ˈhɔːkə /

noun

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

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hawker ² British  

/ ˈhɔːkə /

noun

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

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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

Shanghai is seeking public opinion on revising hawker regulations and in April said it had set up 74 spots for vendors.

From Reuters ● May 30, 2023

Pastor Ambrose had come out of his room and was bargaining with the lizard hawker.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie