Jump To:

• merchant
  merchant

  noun

  a person who buys and sells commodities for profit; dealer; trader.
• Merchant
  Merchant

  noun

  Ismail (ˈɪzmeɪəl). 1936–2005, Indian film producer, noted for his collaboration with James Ivory on such films as Shakespeare Wallah (1965), The Europeans (1979), A Room with a View (1986), The Remains of the Day (1993), and The Golden Bowl (2000)

merchant

American  

[mur-chuhnt] / ˈmɜr tʃənt /

noun

• merchants
  plural

1. a person who buys and sells commodities for profit; dealer; trader.

2. a storekeeper; retailer.

   a local merchant who owns a store on Main Street.

3. Chiefly British. a wholesaler.

---

adjective

1. pertaining to or used for trade or commerce.

   a merchant ship.

2. pertaining to the merchant marine.

3. Steelmaking. (of bars and ingots) of standard shape or size.

merchant ¹ British  

/ ˈmɜːtʃənt /

noun

1. a person engaged in the purchase and sale of commodities for profit, esp on international markets; trader

2. a person engaged in retail trade

3. (esp in historical contexts) any trader

4. derogatory a person dealing or involved in something undesirable

   a gossip merchant

5. (modifier)

   1. of the merchant navy

      a merchant sailor

   2. of or concerned with trade

      a merchant ship

---

verb

1. (tr) to conduct trade in; deal in

Merchant ² British  

/ ˈmɜːtʃənt /

noun

1. Ismail (ˈɪzmeɪəl). 1936–2005, Indian film producer, noted for his collaboration with James Ivory on such films as Shakespeare Wallah (1965), The Europeans (1979), A Room with a View (1986), The Remains of the Day (1993), and The Golden Bowl (2000)

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• outmerchant
  noun
• merchant-like
  adjective
• merchantlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• merchants
  plural

Etymology

Origin of merchant

1250–1300; Middle English marchant < Old French marcheant < Vulgar Latin *mercātant- (stem of *mercātāns ), present participle of *mercātāre, frequentative of Latin mercārī to trade, derivative of merx goods

Explanation

A merchant is someone who works in or owns a retail business and sells goods. In Paris you can stroll from merchant to merchant, buying a loaf of bread in one shop and a wedge of cheese in another. The noun merchant has its Latin roots in the word merchari, meaning to trade. Other words from the same root include "market," "merchandise," and "mercantile." In some areas, independent merchants have banded together to combine advertising dollars and compete against malls and big box stores. You should ask your neighborhood book merchant if they've considered joining a group like this.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

merchant Merchant merchants

Maritime Trade Operations Center said Wednesday it had received reports of several merchant vessels being subjected to fire in the northern Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

In April that year, another jet fighter fell off the USS Harry S. Truman while deployed to fight Houthi militants in the Red Sea, just weeks after it collided with a merchant vessel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

To him, Nvidia’s support for the open-source ecosystem ensures demand for AI hardware is “broad-based and drives more value towards the merchant GPU ecosystem.”

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

Alongside him, Cristian Lara, a 50-year-old merchant, thanked the festival organizers for "blessing" his house with a mural, and stated that there are "new winds of change" in El Salvador.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

The city had one of the busiest harbors in the colonies, with merchant ships heading to the Caribbean and Europe and all corners of the world.

From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis

“Guidance embeds supply constraints leaving potential for upside,” Asiya Merchant, director of tech equity research, wrote in a note Wednesday.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026

Entities controlled by Amistad, including Amistad Merchant Funding, Amistad STF II and Amistad Debt Warehouse 1, were among the recipients of loans from Walter’s insurers Delaware Life and Clear Spring, according to their recent filings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

By 2005, when the trade publication Catalog Age changed its name to Multichannel Merchant to reflect the rise of e-commerce, even legacy brands like Lands’ End and L.L.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

With prices increasing worldwide, Apple is “well positioned to capture switchers” when legacy or entry-level iPhones fall into this midrange price band through promotions or subsidies, Merchant wrote.

From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026

He was no longer his own problem but Merchant Lyte’s.

From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes

Traders and merchants have been sending large volumes of refined copper into the U.S., where prices have traded at a premium amid the prospect of new import duties.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

Others are prosperous merchants in the fabric and carpet trade.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

In recent quarters, the company has rolled out more support initiatives to prevent merchants from defecting to other platforms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

India has paved the way, external for banks and payment companies to charge merchants a fee on UPI transactions, potentially ending a decade-long experiment in free digital payments.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

At the indoor spice market, the merchants arranged open crates with colored mounds of red saffron threads, yellow turmeric, purple sumac, blue salt, black pepper, brown sugar, and green dried sage.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri

Related Words

• broker
• dealer
• exporter
• operator
• retailer
• seller
• shipper
• shopkeeper
• trader
• trafficker
• vendor
• wholesaler