Etymologically
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retailer

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈɹiteɪlɚ/[1]

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

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.