merchants
merchants — adjective
- merchantspositive
- more merchantscomparative
- most merchantssuperlative
1. relating to the business of buying and selling goods, especially in large quanti
relating to the business of buying and selling goods, especially in large quantities between different countries or regions.
The Watanabe family built their fortune through merchant trade between Japan and Southeast Asia.
merchant + noun for attributive use
Port cities like Hamburg and Shanghai grew wealthy from merchant shipping routes.
A merchant bank helped the start-up raise capital for its expansion into Latin America.
The old merchant quarter still has narrow streets lined with warehouses and trading offices.
- commercial
broader meaning; covers all business activity, not just trade
- trade
used as an adjective only in fixed phrases like 'trade routes'
文法句型
merchant + noun
用法筆記
Attributive only — used before a noun (merchant ship, merchant bank, merchant trade). Not used predicatively (you cannot say 'this trade is merchant').
2. describing ships, crews, or infrastructure that carry goods by sea for commercia
describing ships, crews, or infrastructure that carry goods by sea for commercial purposes, as distinct from a country's navy.
After retiring from the navy, Théo served on merchant vessels for another ten years.
merchant vessels = ships for commercial cargo
South Korea pledged to modernise its ageing merchant fleet with new ships to rival Chinese operators on Pacific routes.
During the war, many merchant sailors risked their lives transporting supplies across the Atlantic.
A 2024 EU regulation requires all merchant ships over 300 gross tonnes to carry satellite tracking devices for real-time position monitoring.
- commercial
broader; can describe any profit-making activity
- civilian
emphasises the contrast with military, but is not limited to ships
- naval
navy-related, the opposite of civilian merchant shipping
文法句型
merchant + noun (nautical)
用法筆記
Almost always combines with nautical nouns: merchant marine, merchant fleet, merchant vessel, merchant sailor. Not used for land-based commerce.
merchants — noun
- merchantssingular
- merchantsesplural
1. a person or company that purchases goods in very large quantities and resells th
a person or company that purchases goods in very large quantities and resells them for a profit, typically by trading across national borders.
Aarav worked as a textile merchant, exporting cotton from India to factories in Bangladesh.
merchant of [specific goods]
The Hanseatic League merchants controlled Baltic Sea trade for more than three centuries.
historical use: the merchants of [place/organisation]
During the Ming dynasty, Chinese merchants traded silk and porcelain for silver from Spanish colonies.
A grain merchant in Chicago bought the entire wheat harvest from three hundred local farms.
- trader
broader; can be small or large scale, local or international
- wholesaler
specific to someone who sells to shops, not directly to customers
- dealer
can imply a narrower specialty (e.g. art dealer, arms dealer)
文法句型
a merchant of + goods
merchant in + goods
用法筆記
Use [commodity] merchant (wine merchant, grain merchant, silk merchant) or a merchant of [goods] (a merchant of fine wines). In modern contexts, often replaced by 'trader' or 'wholesaler' for domestic small-scale trade, but still common for international commodity trading.
常見錯誤
2. someone who promotes or is involved in something harmful or unpleasant, used to
someone who promotes or is involved in something harmful or unpleasant, used to express strong disapproval in a dramatic or literary style.
The newspaper called the warlord a merchant of death who sold weapons to both sides of the conflict.
fixed phrase: merchant of death
Online platforms face growing pressure to remove merchants of hate who spread violent extremist content.
merchant of [negative quality]
Dr. Sofia Okafor denounced tobacco giants as merchants of misery who target young people in poor countries.
Critics described the payday lender as a merchant of despair who trapped poor families in debt.
- trafficker
stronger legal/criminal connotation; used for drugs, weapons, people
- peddler
can be literal (peddler of drugs) or figurative (peddler of lies), often less dramatic
文法句型
a merchant of + unpleasant thing
用法筆記
This sense is almost always used in the fixed pattern 'a merchant of [something bad]' — e.g. merchant of death, merchant of hate, merchant of misery. It is literary and rhetorical, not neutral description. Do not use it for ordinary criminals or small-scale wrongdoing.
常見錯誤
3. a person who owns or runs a shop that sells goods directly to members of the pub
a person who owns or runs a shop that sells goods directly to members of the public.
Local merchants on Main Street formed a business association to attract more shoppers to the area.
common: local merchant
Kemi bought fresh vegetables from the merchant at the corner shop every morning before school.
In rural Kenya, small merchants accept payments through M-Pesa on mobile phones instead of cash, reaching customers without bank accounts.
The town's Christmas market gave local merchants a chance to sell handmade crafts and baked goods.
- shopkeeper
more specific to a person who runs a physical shop
- retailer
neutral term for any business that sells to the public, from corner shops to large chains
- storekeeper
mainly North American English, similar to shopkeeper
- customer
the buyer rather than the seller
文法句型
local merchant
small merchant
用法筆記
This is the everyday sense used for shopkeepers and small business owners. A wine merchant in this sense is a shop that sells wine to the public (not a large-scale importer). Context makes the scale clear.
常見錯誤
merchants — verb
- merchantspresent simple I / you / we / they
- merchantses3rd person singular
- merchantsing-ing form
- merchantsedpast simple
1. to buy and sell a particular type of goods as a business activity.
to buy and sell a particular type of goods as a business activity.
The Cretan family firm has merchanted single-estate olive oil to buyers in Venice and Trieste since the 1890s.
transitive: merchant + goods
Before the railroad reached Nebraska in the 1860s, local traders merchanted grain and cattle between settlements along the Platte River.
For six generations Kerala villagers merchanted dried fish inland to Mysore spice plantations for rice and black pepper.
During the 1910s rubber boom, a Belgian firm merchanted wild rubber from the Amazon to tyre factories in Akron, Ohio.
文法句型
merchant + goods
用法筆記
Archaic or very formal in modern English. 'Merchant' as a verb is rarely used in everyday speech; 'trade in', 'deal in', or 'sell' are much more common alternatives. You may encounter it in historical writing or formal business descriptions.
常見錯誤
2. to operate as a merchant, carrying out the activity of buying and selling goods
to operate as a merchant, carrying out the activity of buying and selling goods for profit.
For thirty years the Farooq brothers merchanted in hand-woven carpets from a dusty warehouse near the port of Peshawar.
intransitive: merchant in + goods/place
In the 1660s, Jan van der Meer merchanted in Istanbul's bazaars, selling Delftware and herring for Anatolian silk and spices.
In the 1700s, European traders merchanted along the Gold Coast, exchanging cotton cloth for gold dust at Elmina fort.
Every winter, Tuareg nomads merchanted across the Sahara, trading rock salt from Taoudenni for millet and dates from southern oases.
文法句型
merchant in + place
merchant + prepositional phrase
用法筆記
This intransitive sense (to act as a merchant) is even rarer than the transitive sense. Both are best suited to historical narrative or deliberately formal prose. In modern English, 'run a business', 'be a merchant', or 'trade' are preferred.