Etymology

merchantman

M3E1R1C3H4A1N1T1M3A1N1

Today it means: A male merchant (person engaged in trade). Full definition →

Middle English man ← Old English mann ← Proto-West Germanic *mann
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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. Proto-Indo-European*mon-
  9. Proto-Germanic*mann-
  10. Proto-West Germanic*mann
  11. Old Englishmann
  12. Middle Englishman
  13. English todaymerchantman

From merchant + -man.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.