overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

merchant.

A person who traffics in commodities for profit.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈmɜːtʃənt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmɝt͡ʃənt/General-American

  1. A person who traffics in commodities for profit.

  2. The owner or operator of a retail business.

  3. A trading vessel; a merchantman.

  4. Someone who is noted for a stated type of activity or behaviour.

    derogatory · informal · sometimes
    He's some kind of speed merchant — he drives way too fast.
    Goal merchant Smith scored twice again in the match against Mudchester Rovers.

  5. A supercargo.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *merks Latin merx Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -or Latin mercor Latin mercānsder. Anglo-Norman marchauntbor. Middle English marchaunt English merchant From Middle English marchaunt, from Anglo-Norman marchaunt, from mercans, from the verb mercor (“to trade, deal, sell”).

verb/ˈmɜːtʃənt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmɝt͡ʃənt/General-American

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

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *merks Latin merx Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -or Latin mercor Latin mercānsder. Anglo-Norman marchauntbor. Middle English marchaunt English merchant From Middle English marchaunt, from Anglo-Norman marchaunt, from mercans, from the verb mercor (“to trade, deal, sell”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

merchant has 8 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

merchant studiomerchant workshello, merchant

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.