Ichthyopolist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who sells fish or operates a fish market
2. A merchant engaged in the buying and selling of fish, typically working in a market setting for aquatic life forms
3. An individual who deals in the commerce of fish, typically selling seafood to customers

Etymology: "Ichthyopolist" is built from Greek parts that a reader can take apart at a glance: "ichthys", meaning fish, combined with "pōleō", meaning to sell or barter, and the suffix "-ist" marking a person who does something. Put together, it names a fish-seller in the most literal sense, and nothing in its making is hidden or disputed. The first element, "ichthyo-", is the combining form of "ichthys", the ordinary Greek word for fish, and it appears across modern scientific vocabulary, from ichthyology (the study of fish) to ichthyosaur (a "fish lizard"). The second, "pōleō", was a common Greek verb for trading in goods at market, which also gave us "monopoly" and "polity" through related forms. Because the word is a deliberate construction from classical roots rather than a traditional popular term, it reads as learned and slightly formal. It is the kind of word a writer reaches for to make a fishmonger sound like a figure from antiquity.