different between commerce vs sales

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French commerce, from Latin commercium.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k?m.?s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?m.?s/, (dated) /k??m??s/

Noun

commerce (countable and uncountable, plural commerces)

1. (business) The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; especially the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.
2. Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity.
   • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:

     Suppose we held our converse not in words, but in music; those who have a bad ear would find themselves cut off from all near commerce, and no better than foreigners in this big world.

3. (obsolete) Sexual intercourse.
   • 1648, Walter Montagu Miscellanea Spiritualia, or Devout Essaies

     these perillous commerces of our love

4. An 18th-century French card game in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade.

Synonyms

• trade, traffic, dealings, intercourse, interchange, communion, communication
• See also Thesaurus:copulation

Derived terms

• chamber of commerce
• commercial

Translations

Verb

commerce (third-person singular simple present commerces, present participle commercing, simple past and past participle commerced)

1. (intransitive, archaic) To carry on trade; to traffic.
   • 1599, Ben Jonson, Every Man out of His Humour

     Beware you commerce not with bankrupts.

2. (intransitive, archaic) To hold intercourse; to commune.
   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Walking to the Mail

     commercing with himself

   • 1844, John Wilson, Essay on the Genius, and Character of Burns

     Musicians […] taught the people in angelic harmonies to commerce with heaven.

Further reading

• commerce in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• commerce in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Etymology

From Middle French commerce, borrowed from Latin commercium (“commerce, trade”), from com- (“together”) + merx (“good, wares, merchandise”); see merchant, mercenary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?.m??s/

Noun

commerce m (plural commerces)

1. commerce, trade
2. store, shop, trader

Derived terms

• commercial

See also

• négoce

Further reading

• “commerce” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Louisiana Creole French

Etymology

From French commerce (“commerce”).

Noun

commerce

1. business, commerce

References

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /se?lz/
• Homophone: sails
• Rhymes: -e?lz
• Hyphenation: sales

Noun

sales pl (plural only)

1. plural of sale
2. The activities involved in selling goods or services.

3. The amount or value of goods and services sold.

Usage notes

• Often used attributively.

Anagrams

• LSASE, SEALs, Seals, assle, lases, salse, seals

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /?sa.l?s/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?sa.les/

Noun

sales

1. plural of sala

Verb

sales

1. second-person singular present indicative form of salar

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English sales.

Pronunciation

Noun

sales

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) salesperson

   • ?Sales??????????????? [Cantonese, trad.]
     ?Sales??????????????? [Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 2015, ??, ??——????????, page 9

     zou⁶ seu¹ si² hou² san¹ fu² gaa³ wo³, jau⁶ jiu³ paau² sou³, jau⁶ jiu³ deoi³ haak³ [Jyutping]

     Being a salesperson is really hard; you have to meet the quotas and meet with clients

   • ???????????????????sales???? [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     ???????????????????sales???? [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 2016, ???, ????CEO, page 80

     sap⁶ jyut⁶ fan⁶ jing¹ goi¹ ceng² tung⁴ si⁶, bou² on¹, cing¹ git³ neoi⁵ gung¹, zyun¹ gwai⁶ seu¹ si² sik⁶ mat¹ dung¹ dung¹ [Jyutping]

     In October, what should I treat my colleagues, security, cleaning ladies and salespeople at the counters to?

   • ????????????????????????sales?????????????????????????????????sales [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
     ????????????????????????sales?????????????????????????????????sales [Literary Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 2016, ??, HEA??????? 2 ????????, page 50

     jyu⁴ gwo² dong¹ nin⁴ ngo⁵ jat¹ zik⁶ mun⁵ zuk¹ jin⁶ zong⁶, gam¹ jat⁶ cing⁴ fong³ jing¹ goi¹ gan¹ han² do¹ tung⁴ kei⁴ dik¹ seu¹ si² pang⁴ jau⁵ caa¹ bat¹ do¹, zik¹ kap¹ wo⁴ san¹ cau⁴ ji⁵ dou³ daat⁶ tin¹ faa¹ baan² dik¹ zung¹ gou¹ cang⁴ wai⁶ zi³, sau² haa⁶ ho² nang⁴ jau⁵ sap⁶ go³ baat³ go³ seu¹ si² [Jyutping]

     If I were always satisfied with the situation then, my situation today should be similar to many of my friends who were salespeople around the same time as me, their positions and salaries already at the ceiling mid-high position, with 10 or 8 salespeople under them

Synonyms

• ??????? (shòuhuòyuán)
• ??????? (tu?xi?oyuán)

French

Verb

sales

1. second-person singular present indicative of saler
2. second-person singular present subjunctive of saler

Adjective

sales

1. plural of sale

Anagrams

• lasse, lassé, lésas

Interlingua

Noun

sales

1. plural of sal

Latin

Noun

sal?s

1. nominative plural of s?l
2. accusative plural of s?l
3. vocative plural of s?l

References

• sales in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Norman

Adjective

sales pl

1. plural of sale

Old Spanish

Noun

sales f pl

1. plural of sal

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sales/, [?sa.les]

Etymology 1

See salir

Verb

sales

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) present indicative form of salir.

Etymology 2

See sal

Noun

sales f pl

1. plural of sal