Etymology

merchantable

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Today it means: Fit for the market, i.e. suitable for selling for an ordinary price. Sometimes, this is a technical designation for a particular kind or class. Full definition →

English merchant ← Middle English marchaunt ← Anglo-Norman marchaunt
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The story

  1. Proto-Italic*merks
  2. Latinmerx
  3. Latinmercor
  4. Latinmercāns
  5. Anglo-Normanmarchaunt
  6. Middle Englishmarchaunt
  7. Englishmerchant
  8. English todaymerchantable

From merchant + -able.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.