Tradeworker

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person employed in tasks related to buying, selling, or exchanging goods and services
2. Someone who works in commercial activities including trade operations and transactions
3. An individual engaged in jobs connected with trading goods or conducting business commerce

Etymology: The word is a plain compound of "trade" and "worker," and the first part holds the surprise. "Trade" once meant a track or path, a sense it kept in phrases about following a course, and it reached English from Middle Low German or Dutch. Its meaning moved from routes to the regular business of buying and selling, which is why a trade came to describe a line of commerce or a craft before it described any exchange of goods. "Worker" is the older English element, built on the Old English verb for making or doing, and it has long been used for anyone who performs labour. Joined together, the parts describe someone whose labour is tied to commerce, though "tradeworker" is a rare term that has never displaced more common words such as "tradesman" or "merchant" for the same people.

Synonyms: tradesman, craftsman, artisan, journeyman, skilled worker

Antonyms: unskilled worker, novice, apprentice, trainee