merchandise

merchandise · noun¹

1. Anglo-Normanmarchaundise
2. Latinmercātus
3. Vulgar Latin*mercātāntem
4. Old Frenchmarcheant
5. Old Frenchmarcheandise
6. Middle Englishmarchaundise
7. English todaymerchandise

From Middle English marchaundise (“commerce, trading; buying; business transaction, deal; merchandise, goods, wares; possessions”), from Anglo-Norman marchaundise and Old French marcheandise (modern French marchandise), from Old French marcheant (“seller, vendor”) (ultimately from Latin mercātus (“buying and selling, trade, traffic; market; marketplace”), possibly originally Etruscan) + -ise (suffix forming feminine nouns, often denoting a quality or state). The English word is analysable as merchant + -ise.

merchandise · verb²

1. Anglo-Normanmarchaundise
2. Latinmercātus
3. Vulgar Latin*mercātāntem
4. Old Frenchmarcheant
5. Old Frenchmarcheandise
6. Middle Englishmarchaundise
7. Middle Englishmarchaundisen
8. English todaymerchandise

From Middle English marchaundisen (“to engage in commerce, traffic”), from marchaundise (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs).

Words from the same roots