retailer

Etymology

It was formed from English retail + -er in English,^[2][3][4][5] probably in 1466, after an earlier retaillour (1444);^[5][2][6] Etymonline allows an origin in an Old French agent noun as well.^[6] The OED compares retaillier (“a person who clips coins”) (1283).^[2] The verb retail is retailler (“to sell by retail”), a special use of the Old French verb meaning "to cut off, clip, pare",^[2][6][5] from re- and taillier (“to cut”), the source of tailor.^[6][5] The idea of selling "by the piece" is not found in French, and Etymonline and Hoad suggest it came from Italian ritaglio.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who sells goods in small quantities, not in bulk: retaillour from the mid-15th century,^[6][5] and the OED's first quotation for retailer is from the Rolls of Parliament of 1489–90.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its trading sense, which Johnson (1755) gave as "one who sells by small quantities", quoting Hakewill.^[8] It has been extended from the person to a shop or business that sells by retail.^[2][3] Because the verb retail also meant to recount or pass on a story, from 1594,^[5][6] retailer was used from 1607, in Thomas Campion, for someone who repeats or relates something in detail,^[2][7] as in a retailer of gossip.^[3]

Timeline

• 1444 – retaillour, a retail dealer.^[5]
• 1489–90 – retailer, a person who sells by retail.^[2]
• 1607 – a person who repeats or relates something.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person or business that sells goods to the public in small quantities, for use rather than resale: The retailer cut its prices before the holidays.
2. A person who repeats or tells something, such as stories or rumours: a retailer of village rumours.

Word family

• nonretailer

Related words

• retail
• wholesaler
• tailor

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.