# merchandising
## English
### Alternative forms

* merchandizing

### Etymology

From Late Middle English marchaundising (“commerce, trading; commodities, goods; (plural) dealings with other persons”) [and other forms], from marchaundisen (“to engage in commerce, traffic”) (see further at merchandise (verb)) + -ing (suffix forming gerunds). The English word is analysable as merchandise +‎ -ing (suffix forming nouns from verbs).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈmɜːt͡ʃ(ə)ndaɪzɪŋ/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ˈmɝt͡ʃənˌdaɪzɪŋ/
* Hyphenation: mer‧chand‧is‧ing

### Noun

merchandising (usually uncountable, plural merchandisings)
* (also attributively) gerund of merchandise
** (archaic) Trade in merchandise.
*** 1616, Iohn Smith [i.e., John Smith], A Description of New England: […], London: […] Humfrey Lownes, for Robert Clerke; […], →OCLC, page 34:May not the miſerable ruine of Conſtantinople, their impregnable vvalles, riches, and pleaſures laſt taken by the Turke (vvhich are but a bit, in compariſon of their novv mightines) remember vs, of the effects of priuate couetouſneſs? […] His [the Byzantine emperor's] pouertie vvhen the Turke beſeiged, the citizens (vvhoſe marchandizing thoughts vvere onely to get vvealth, little conceiuing the deſperate reſolution of a valiant expert enemy) left the Emp[eror] ſo long to his concluſions, hauing ſpent all he had to pay his young, ravv, diſcontented Souldiers; that ſodainly he, they, and their citie vvere all a prey to the deuouring Turke.
*** 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Usurie. XLI.”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC, page 240:The Diſcommodities of Vſury are: Firſt, that it makes fevver Merchants. For vvere it not, for this Lazie Trade of Vſury, Money vvould not lie ſtill, but vvould, in great Part, be Imployed vpon Merchandizing; VVhich is the Vena Porta of VVealth in a State.
*** 1769, William Blackstone, “Of Offences against God and Religion”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 63:Profanation of the lord's day, or ſabbath-breaking, is a ninth offence againſt God and religion, puniſhed by the municipal lavvs of England. […] And therefore the lavvs of king Athelſtan forbad all merchandizing on the lord's day, under very ſevere penalties.
*** 1840 May 8, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture II. The Hero as Prophet. Mahomet: Islam.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, pages 44–45:[A] Ocadh, in the South of Arabia, there were yearly fairs, and there, when the merchandising was done, Poets sang for prizes:—the wild people gathered to hear that.
*** 1868, Robert Browning, “I. The Ring and the Book.”, in The Ring and the Book. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., →OCLC, page 47, lines 898–903:[T]he old Triton, at his fountain-sport, / Bernini's creature plated to the paps, / Puffs up steel sleet which breaks to diamond dust, / A spray of sparkles snorted from his conch, / High over the caritellas, out o' the way / O' the motley merchandizing multitude.
** (originally US) The promotion of goods for sale in a store, especially through advertising, attractive displays, discounts, etc.; also (generally), the promotion of any goods or services for sale.
    Synonym: marketing
*** 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter XXVII, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC, section V, page 318:Now, these strikers: Honest, they're not such bad people. Just foolish. They don't understand the complications of merchandizing and profit, the way we businessmen do, but sometimes I think they're about like the rest of us, and no more hogs for wages than we are for profits.
*** 2009 February 27, Steven Heller, “Noel Martin, inventive catalog designer, dies at 86”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 February 2022:With the ubiquitous branding and expert merchandizing of museums today, it is easy to forget that graphic design was once a low priority for them.
** (specifically) The promotion of a film, music group, theatre production, etc., through the sale of goods bearing motifs associated with the subject being promoted; also, such goods themselves collectively; merchandise.

#### Derived terms

* Merch.
* visual merchandising

#### Related terms

* market
* marketer
* marketing
* mercantile
* mercantilism
* mercantilist
* merchandisable
* merchandise, merchandize
* merchandiser, merchandizer
* merchandry (obsolete)
* merchant
* remerchandise

#### Translations
### Verb

merchandising
* present participle and gerund of merchandise

### References

* ↑ “marchaundīsing(e, ger.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ “marchaundīsen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ “-ing(e, suf.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ “merchandising, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “merchandising, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Further reading

* merchandising on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* disencharming

## French
### Noun

merchandising m (uncountable)
* merchandising

### Further reading

* “merchandising”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English merchandising.

### Noun

merchandising m (uncountable)
* merchandising, publicity, advertising
    Synonyms: publicidade, propaganda

## Spanish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English merchandising.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmeɾt͡ʃendaisin/ [ˈmeɾ.t͡ʃẽn̪.d̪ai̯.sĩn]
* Rhymes: -eɾtʃendaisin
* Syllabification: mer‧chan‧di‧sing

### Noun

merchandising m (plural merchandisings)
* merchandising
    Synonym: mercadeo

#### Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

#### Further reading

* merchandising, alternativas en español | FundéuRAE