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merchant

noun · verb

Simple meaning

Someone who traffics in commodities for profit.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

murchuhnt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmɝtʃənt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A person who traffics in commodities for profit.

  2. The owner or operator of a retail business.

  3. A trading vessel; a merchantman.

verb

  1. As a resident of a region, to buy goods from a non-resident and sell them to another non-resident.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A person who traffics in commodities for profit.

Used this way, merchant is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use merchant

  • “The merchant sold many exotic spices and fine silks.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Trading

merchant vesselmerchant navy

Resident

merchant shipping

Other combinations

merchant shipswine merchantlaw merchantmerchant serviceamerican merchant

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • merchant shipnounCompound term

    A cargo ship.

  • merchant-venturernounCompound term

    A merchant who undertakes a trading venture (especially a venture that sends goods overseas).

  • merchant vesselsnounCompound term

    Conveyance provided by the ships belonging to one country or industry.

  • merchant marinenounCompound term

    The crew of a merchant vessel.

  • merchant banknounCompound term

    A credit card processing bank.

  • porn merchantnounCompound term

    Someone who presents shows or sells writing or pictures that are sexually explicit in violation of the community mores.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.