Trade
/treɪd/noun
The buying, selling, or exchanging of goods and services, or the act of doing business.
Did you know?The word trade is ultimately tied to the idea of a track or course, not a marketplace: it developed through a sense of a regular path or way of doing things before becoming linked to commerce.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ter-
“to cross over, pass through”
Old Saxon / Middle Low German
Germanic
trade
“track, course, way”
Middle English
English
trade
“path, course, habitual practice”
Late Middle English
English
trade
“occupation, line of work; later commerce”
Modern English
English
trade
“the buying and selling of goods and services”