Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “merchandise” come from?

Merchandise comes from Middle English marchaundise, from Anglo-Norman marchaundise, from Old French marchaunt, meaning merchant or trader.

merchandise (English): Commodities offered for sale; A commodity offered...

Definitions

  1. Commodities offered for sale; A commodity offered...

Ancestry of “merchandise”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishmarchaundise—
2Anglo-Normanmarchaundise—
3Old Frenchmarchauntmerchant

Words derived from “merchandise”

  • merchandiser
  • merchandisable
  • remerchandise
  • merchandiser
Every word from Old French marchaunt →