Etymologically
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vendor

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈvɛn.də/[1]
  • US: /ˈvɛn.dɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman vendor, earlier vendour (modern French vendeur),[2][3][4][5] the agent noun of vendre (“to sell”), the verb behind vend.[2][6] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has the form vendur, seller, trader or shopkeeper, from the third quarter of the 12th century.[7] Klein and Dictionary.com trace the French noun to Latin venditor (“seller”), formed on venditus, the past participle of vendō (“to sell”).[4][8] That verb is a contraction of vēnumdō (“to offer for sale”), from vēnum (“sale”) and dō (“to give”).[6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who disposes of something by sale, a seller: 1594, in William West's Symbolaeography, a book of legal forms.[2][10][11] Etymonline dates it to the 1590s.[6]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first meaning, and it was long mainly a term of law, for the seller of land or other property, as against the buyer, the vendee;[3][12] Etymonline notes that it is more common in legal use than the older spelling vender.[6] Merriam-Webster also uses it for a small independent trader, a peddler, and for a person who sells refreshments or programmes at a public event.[10] From the late 19th century vendor could also mean a vending machine,[3][12] a term recorded from 1889.[6]

Timeline

  • s.xii3/4 – Anglo-Norman vendur, seller.[7]
  • 1594 – a seller.[2][10]
  • late 19th century – a vending machine.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person or firm that sells something, especially a small trader or a seller in the street: Fruit vendors lined the market square.
  2. (law) The seller in a sale of land or other property.
  3. A vending machine.

Word family

  • newsvendor
  • vend
  • vending machine
  • vendue
  • vendee
  • venal

Usage notes

The Shorter Oxford gives a pronunciation with a full second vowel, /ˈvɛndɔː/, as an alternative in the legal sense.[3] The spelling vender also exists.[8][12]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins