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• 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.

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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

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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)

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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

Ives now is a partner and senior managing director at merchant bank Yorkville Ives, which he helped launch earlier this year.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 7, 2026

“So if a merchant does more sales, and they’re using Shopify Payments, obviously some of that translates back to our financials.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

During evidence at the hearing, the man's daughter Su Christie, said her father, a former merchant navy crewman, had a lifelong fear of showers due to a childhood trauma.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

Across three of the exhibitions, the male Viking emerges as a warrior, a seafarer, and a merchant.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026

At sixteen he joined the merchant marine, and his first voyage took him around Cape Horn in the winter: it was his first experience of the Southern Ocean.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

“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

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

Created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the multi award-winning and critically acclaimed BBC sitcom was set at Slough paper merchant Wernham-Hogg.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Alibaba Group and AUS Merchant Services will pay $600 million to resolve Justice Department allegations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

As I was fiddling with the various stations, I came upon one in the middle of a broadcast of a Shakespearean play—The Merchant of Venice!

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane

The settlement would reduce fees and allow merchants to break a cardinal rule the card companies had long insisted on: accepting all cards on a network.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

These swipe fees, known as interchange, are the center of long-running fights between merchants and card companies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

“The landscape for merchants in e-commerce is becoming increasingly complex,” McPadden said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026

A lawsuit between merchants and card companies raged for more than 20 years until it reached a settlement last year that is already set to make some changes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

The noise of rumbling carts laden with creaking cages and barrels of goods, the smells of raw fish and flesh, and the cries of sailors and merchants overwhelmed me.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

Related Words

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