different between exchange vs commerce

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ks?t?e?nd?/
• Rhymes: -e?nd?

Etymology 1

From Middle English eschaunge, borrowed from Anglo-Norman eschaunge, from Old French eschange (whence modern French échange), from the verb eschanger, from Vulgar Latin *excambi?re, present active infinitive of *excambi? (from Latin ex with Late Latin cambi?). Spelling later changed on the basis of ex- in English.

Noun

exchange (countable and uncountable, plural exchanges)

1. An act of exchanging or trading.

2. A place for conducting trading.

3. A telephone exchange.
4. (telephony, US) The fourth through sixth digits of a ten-digit phone number (the first three before the introduction of area codes).

5. A conversation.
6. (chess) The loss of one piece and associated capture of another
   1. (usually with "the") The loss of a relatively minor piece (typically a bishop or knight) and associated capture of the more advantageous rook
7. (obsolete) The thing given or received in return; especially, a publication exchanged for another.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

8. (biochemistry) The transfer of substances or elements like gas, amino-acids, ions etc. sometimes through a surface like a membrane.
9. (finance) The difference between the values of money in different places.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English eschaungen, from Anglo-Norman eschaungier, Old French eschanger, from the Old French verb eschangier, eschanger (whence modern French échanger), from Vulgar Latin *excambi?re, present active infinitive of *excambi? (from Latin ex with Late Latin cambi?). Gradually displaced native Old English wrixlan, wixlan (“to change, exchange, reciprocate”) and its descendants, wrixle being one of them.

Verb

exchange (third-person singular simple present exchanges, present participle exchanging, simple past and past participle exchanged)

1. (transitive) To trade or barter.

   I'll gladly exchange my place for yours.

2. (transitive) To replace with, as a substitute.

   I'd like to exchange this shirt for one in a larger size.

   Since his arrest, the mob boss has exchanged a mansion for a jail cell.

Synonyms

• (trade or barter): truck, wrixle; See also Thesaurus:trade or Thesaurus:barter
• (replace with a substitute): interchange, swap; See also Thesaurus:switch

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

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

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