trade

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable) The buying and selling of goods and services on a market.
2. (countable) A particular instance of buying or selling.
3. (countable) An instance of bartering items in exchange for one another.
4. (countable) Those who perform a particular kind of skilled work.
5. (countable) Those engaged in an industry or group of related industries.
6. (countable) The skilled practice of a practical occupation.
7. (countable, uncountable) An occupation in the secondary sector, as opposed to an agricultural, professional or military one.
8. (UK, uncountable) The business given to a commercial establishment by its customers.
9. (countable, in-plural, uncountable) Steady winds blowing from east to west above and below the equator.
10. (countable, uncountable) A publication intended for participants in an industry or related group of industries.
11. (slang, uncountable) A masculine man available for casual sex with men, often for pay. (Compare rough trade.)
12. (obsolete, uncountable) Instruments of any occupation.
13. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, uncountable) Short for trade paperback
14. (countable, uncountable) Refuse or rubbish from a mine.
15. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A track or trail; a way; a path; passage.
16. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A course; a custom; a practice; an occupation.

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) To engage in trade.
2. (copulative, intransitive) To be traded at a certain price or under certain conditions.
3. (transitive) To give (something) in exchange (for).
4. (transitive) To mutually exchange (something) (with).
5. (transitive, with-on) To use or exploit a particular aspect, such as a name, reputation, or image, to gain advantage or benefit.
6. (intransitive, transitive) To give someone a plant and receive a different one in return.
7. (ambitransitive) To do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood.
8. (intransitive) To have dealings; to be concerned or associated (with).
9. (transitive) To recommend and get recommendations.

Adj

Of a product, produced for sale in the ordinary bulk retail trade and hence of only the most basic quality.

Synonyms

commerce

business

barter

exchange

occupation

profession

deal

craft

swap

traffic

sell

handicraft

buy and sell

transaction

do business

transact

swop

buying and selling

commercial

vocation

negotiate

deal in

interchange

shop

trading

dealings

merchandise

bargain

industry

buy

🛍️

switch

transactions

calling

📲

trade in

work

business deal

art

🎨

change

sale

career

sales

dealing

peddle

vend

market

job

skill

commercialism

retailer

patronage

Translations

commerce

Handel

comercio

commercio

handel

échanger

comércio

Geschäft

métier

handeln

mestiere

εμπόριο

handelen

Gewerbe

Pronounced as (IPA)

/tɹeɪd/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: trade

Cognate with Old English: tredan

In summary

From Middle English trade (“path, course of conduct”), introduced into English by Hanseatic merchants, from Middle Low German trade (“track, course”), from Old Saxon trada (“spoor, track”), from Proto-West Germanic *tradu, from Proto-Germanic *tradō (“track, way”), and cognate with Old English tredan (“to tread”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂- (“to tread, walk, step, run”).
Cognate with Dutch trade, tra (“path, trail, course, trade”), German Low German Traad (“track, wagon trail”), Luxembourgish Tratt (“step, pace”), Icelandic tröð (“a lane between fences, enclosure, pen”).

Sentences

It has a strong trade and advanced service sector .

He became a missionary in Africa and fought the slave trade all his life .

During the medieval period it became a centre for the wool trade .

It is widely used as a language of trade and commerce .

After his education , Sawyer worked in engineering , before moving into trade unionism .