Dictionary

mercantile en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈmɜːkənˌtaɪl/ (UK)
• (US) audio
• /ˈmɝ.kənˌtaɪl/ (US)
• /-ˌtil/ (US)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *merks Latin merx Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -or Latin mercor Latin mercantem Italian mercante Latin -īlemder. Italian -ile Italian mercantilebor. French mercantilebor. English mercantile Borrowed from French mercantile, from Italian mercantile, from mercante (“merchant”), from Latin mercāns (“trading”).

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Concerned with the exchange of goods for profit.
   • No sign was over his door; in fact—as with old banks and mercantile houses—advertising in any shape was scorned, and it would have been felt as beneath his dignity to paint, for the benefit of strangers, the name of an establishment the trade of which came solely by connection based on personal respect. 1872, [Thomas Hardy], “II. A Meeting of the Choir”, in Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, →OCLC, part II, page 139:
2. (not-comparable) Of or relating to mercantilism.

Forms

Deriveds

unmercantile · nonmercantile · mercantilist · mercantilely · mercantilistic · promercantile

Relateds

merchant

Translations (20)

bg търговски (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · lv tirdzniecisks (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · pdt haundelsoatich (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · ca mercantil (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · ru торго́вый (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · cy masnachol (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · es mercantil (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · grc ἐμπορικός (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · pt mercantil (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · la mercātōrius (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · tr ticari (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · nl handels- (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · lv veikalniecisks (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · pl komercyjny (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · it mercantile (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · fr mercantile (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · gl mercantil (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · pl merkantylny (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · ga marsantach (related to the exchange of goods for profit) · ru мерканти́льный (related to the exchange of goods for profit)