Etymology

merchantwoman

M3E1R1C3H4A1N1T1W4O1M3A1N1

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

Middle English woman ← Old English wīfmann ← 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-Germanic*wībą
  9. Proto-West Germanic*wīb
  10. Old Englishwīf
  11. Proto-Indo-European*mon-
  12. Proto-Germanic*mann-
  13. Proto-West Germanic*mann
  14. Old Englishmann
  15. Old Englishwīfmann
  16. Middle Englishwoman
  17. English todaymerchantwoman

From merchant + -woman.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.