marketplace English · revision 39520

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1389}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound [[af|en|market|place]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Dictionary.com 2016) The OED compares [[nl|marktplaats]] and [[de|Marktplatz]].^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An open space in a town where a market is held: 1389, in the Inquisitions Miscellaneous.^(OED 2026) Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century,^(Etymonline) and Chaucer used it once.^(GCME)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ For more than five centuries the word was used only of the physical place.^(OED 2026) 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.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) In economics, from 1960, ''the marketplace'' became the world of trade and commerce in general,^(OED 2026) a sense Collins gives as the commercial world of buying and selling.^(Collins 2023) Merriam-Webster also records it as the everyday world of work into which a person goes to earn a living.^(MWU 2024) 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).^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1389 – an open space where a market is held.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1661 – slang, the vagina.^(GDoS)

+ * 1926 – figurative, a place where ideas are exchanged;^(OED 2026) 1942 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1960 – in economics, the world of commerce.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1965 – (US slang) the area where street prostitutes work.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An open [[square]] or space in a town where a [[market]] is held.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)

+ # The world of [[commerce]], trade and economic activity: ''The new phone struggled in a crowded marketplace.''^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # A setting in which [[idea|alt=ideas]], opinions or values compete for acceptance: ''Online forums became a marketplace for political opinion.''^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[market]]

+ * [[place]]

+ * [[mart]]

+ * [[bazaar]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}