Tobacconists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A retailer specialized in selling tobacco products and related accessories
2. a shop or establishment where various forms of tobacco are available for purchase
3. a professional involved in the trade and distribution of smoking materials and supplies

Etymology: A tobacconist is built from tobacco, a linking -n-, and the suffix -ist. The suffix reached English through Middle English, having come from Old French, which took it from Latin, which had borrowed it from Greek, where it appeared as "-istēs." Over that journey it came to mark someone who deals in or practises something, so a tobacconist is one who deals in tobacco. The -n- is a linking sound inserted between the base and the suffix. The word here is the plural, referring to more than one such dealer or shop.