Mĕr'can-tile, a.

(Synop., §130), a. [Fr. & It. mercantile, Sp. & Pg. mercantil, from Lat. mercans, p. pr. of mercari, to traffic. See MERCABLE.] Pertaining to merchants, or the business of merchants; having to do with trade, or the buying and selling of commodities; commercial.

Synonyms—MERCANTILE, COMMERCIAL. Commercial is the wider term, being sometimes used to embrace mercantile. In their stricter use, commercial relates to the shipping, freighting, forwarding, and other business connected with the commerce of a country (whether external or internal), that is, the exchange of commodities; while mercantile applies to the sale of merchandise and goods when brought to market. As the two employments are to some extent intermingled, the two words are often interchanged. “The only procedure (that I may use the mercantile term) you can expect is thanks.” Howell. “Every man thus lives by exchanging, or becomes in some measure a merchant; and the society itself grows to be what is properly a commercial society.” A. Smith.