Chandler

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈt͡ʃændlɚ/

Definitions

1. A merchant who makes or sells candles, or historically, a dealer in groceries and supplies
2. A person who produces or sells lighting candles and may also engage in trade involving various goods and provisions
3. Someone involved in the manufacture or sale of candles, often historically linking to supplying other essential items

Etymology: The chandler's trade is older than its name suggests in one respect: the Latin "candela" meant "a candle," and "candelarius" was a candle-maker, but the word also covered the candlestick, so a single term once named both the maker and the holder of the flame. That double sense survived into Old French as "chandelier," which later came to mean the hanging branched light fixture, while English took the word in the older sense of the person who made candles. The English form entered through Middle English as "chaundeler," and the trade it named stayed close to its Latin roots for centuries. Chandlers made tallow and wax candles, and the word's sense widened as those shops, which also stocked soap and other household goods, came to be called ship chandlers when they supplied vessels with rope, paint, and provisions. That shipping sense explains the modern meaning of trading in various goods and provisions.

Synonyms: merchant, trader, dealer