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marketplace

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Etymology and origin of the English word marketplace

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1389
Ultimate origins
Old Northern French marketOld French place
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English market
English marketplace
From the same root
English supermarket ← market

Etymology

It is a compound from English market + place.[1][2][3][4] The OED compares Dutch marktplaats and German Marktplatz.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

An open space in a town where a market is held: 1389, in the Inquisitions Miscellaneous.[1] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century,[2] and Chaucer used it once.[5]

Semantic evolution

For more than five centuries the word was used only of the physical place.[1] Its figurative use for any setting in which ideas and the like are sought or exchanged is dated 1926 in the OED and 1942 in Etymonline.[1][2] In economics, from 1960, the marketplace became the world of trade and commerce in general,[1] a sense Collins gives as the commercial world of buying and selling.[6] Merriam-Webster also records it as the everyday world of work into which a person goes to earn a living.[3] In slang it has meant the vagina (from 1661) and, in the United States, the part of a town where street prostitutes work (from 1965).[7]

Timeline

  • 1389 – an open space where a market is held.[1][2]
  • 1661 – slang, the vagina.[7]
  • 1926 – figurative, a place where ideas are exchanged;[1] 1942 in Etymonline.[2]
  • 1960 – in economics, the world of commerce.[1]
  • 1965 – (US slang) the area where street prostitutes work.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. An open square or space in a town where a market is held.
  2. The world of commerce, trade and economic activity: The new phone struggled in a crowded marketplace.
  3. A setting in which ideas, opinions or values compete for acceptance: Online forums became a marketplace for political opinion.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
Cite this entry

“Marketplace.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/marketplace. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·