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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

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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

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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

Heather Schwedel spoke with a Home Depot merchant to get the inside scoop on how these giant skeletons came to be.

From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2026

Analysts predict the merchant cash advance market could amount to $35 billion by 2030.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

“Key questions would be on product or merchant overlap, plus how the Instacart brand integrates into the broader acquirer’s brand,” the Wedbush analysts said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026

“This important deployment will significantly enhance Tencent’s brand awareness to international representatives while driving broader foreign user familiarity and adoption across the WeChat Mini Program ecosystem and local merchant network,” they note.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

“And if things keep going from bad to worse, you won’t have this job very long. Our merchant ships will be wiped off the seas.”

From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham

After serving in the Merchant Marine and working as a staff photographer, he was hired by Harper’s Bazaar to cover the couture shows and models in post-World War II Paris.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

Merchant, 55, added that he looked forward to moving on with life, but said part of that would be "ensuring that those responsible for what happened are held fully accountable".

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 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

“While demand remains strong, we continue to see variability tied to customer timing, mix sensitivity, working capital intensity and customer concentration,” Asiya Merchant, technology equity analyst at Citigroup, wrote in a note on Wednesday.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026

A half hour later, Kaz returned with a message confirming that representatives from the Merchant Council would meet them on Vellgeluk at dawn the following day.

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo

President Harley Finkelstein called the report “the perfect example” of Shopify’s ability to deliver on what merchants need today while investing in agentic commerce and other technologies of the future.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026

In the nine days since riots erupted in cities across France, thousands of merchants have also boarded up their storefronts, radically altering the Paris streetscape.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026

CEO Enrique Lores said PayPal is investing in the consumer side, including Venmo, to drive growth after previously focusing on merchants.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

ByteDance has said merchants can’t buy their way into better recommendations.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026

When the merchants returned, they would run us out of Korla.

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

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Related Words

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

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