resell

Etymology

It is formed from English re- (“again”) + sell.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The simple verb goes back to Old English sellan (“to give, hand over”),^[5][7] from Proto-Germanic *saljaną (“to offer, hand over”),^[5][8] which is also the source of Old Norse selja (“to hand over, sell”) and Old Frisian sella (“to hand over, sell”).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To sell again: 1574, in the archives of Galway.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1570s, also spelled re-sell.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The verb is used both with an object and without one.^[2] The Shorter Oxford adds that it is used especially of commercial selling,^[3] and Collins defines it as selling something one has bought, selling it on.^[10] The agent noun reseller, a person or business that resells goods, is recorded from the late 19th century,^[3] in 1896 according to the 1989 edition of the OED.^[11]

Timeline

• 1574 – to sell again.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sell something that one has bought, especially for profit; to sell on: She resells vintage furniture online.^[10][3]
2. To sell again.^[4][2][5]

Word family

• reseller

Related words

• resale
• sell

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press