Merchanter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person engaged in the business of buying and selling goods, typically operating on a commercial scale; a trader who purchases commodities to sell for profit; one who conducts commerce or mercantile transactions
2. An individual involved in commercial activities, acquiring and vending products for financial gain; a dealer who exchanges goods within markets; a businessperson focused on trade and merchandise distribution
3. Someone who trades goods professionally, buying items to resell at a profit; a commercial agent or merchant dealing in commodities; a person dedicated to the buying and selling of merchandise in economic exchanges

Etymology: "Merchanter" is "merchant" with the agent suffix "-er," which marks a person who performs an action. "Merchant" comes from Old French "marchant," and it descends from the Latin verb "mercari," "to trade," which itself grew from "merx," "merchandise" or "goods." The same Latin root produced "market," from "mercatus," and "commerce," from "commercium," so the English words for trading, its setting, and its large-scale form all trace back to one verb. Words for paid work follow a related path: "mercenary," from "merces," "wages," belongs to the same family, so a trader and a hired soldier were once connected by the idea of exchange for payment.

Synonyms: merchant, trader, dealer, seller, vendor

Antonyms: buyer, customer, consumer