emporium
/ɛmˈpoɹ.i.əm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.90 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A city or region which is a major trading centre; also, a place within a city for commerce and trading; a marketplace.
noun
A shop that offers a wide variety of goods for sale; a department store; (with a descriptive word) a shop specializing in particular goods.
noun
A business set up to enable foreign traders to engage in commerce in a country; a factory (now the more common term).
name
A borough, the county seat of Cameron County, Pennsylvania, United States.
Example Sentences
- "Venice a poore fiſhertowne, Paris, London, ſmall Cottages, in Cæſars time, now moſt noble Emporiums."
- "And, while this fam'd Emporium we prepare, / The Britiſh Ocean ſhall ſuch triumphs boaſt, / That thoſe who now diſdain our Trade to ſhare, / Shall rob like Pyrats on our wealthy Coaſt."
- "The ſtate itself [New York] is penetrated by a large navigable river for more than fifty leagues. The great emporium of its commerce, the great reſervoir of its wealth, lies every moment at the mercy of events, and may almoſt be regarded as a hoſtage for ignominious compliances with the dictates of a foreign enemy, or even with the rapacious demands of pirates and barbarians."
- "Excester, or EXETER, is a famous and ancient City, the metropolis and emporium of the Weſt of England."
- "[W]ould there not be a ſerious danger, that while theſe innovations were proceeding, rival European powers might ſeize the occaſion, renew their commercial efforts, and divert into a new channel thoſe ſtreams of commerce which rendered London the emporium of the Eaſtern trade?"
- "Merchants did not carry their goods to the ports where they were to be finally disposed of, and used, but to certain emporia, called staple towns, where they met with customers from the countries where their goods were wanted, and with the commodities they wished to purchase for importation."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin emporium (“trading station; business district in a city; market town”), from Ancient Greek ἐμπόριον (empórion, “factory, trading station; market”), from ἔμπορος (émporos, “merchant, trader; traveller”) + -ιον (-ion, suffix forming nouns). ἔμπορος is derived from ἐμ- (em-) (variant of ἐν- (en-, prefix meaning ‘in; within’)) + πόρος (póros, “journey; passageway”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; to carry forth”)), modelled after ἐν πόρῳ (en pórōi, “at sea; en route”). Sense 4 (“the brain”) alludes to the organ as the place where many nerves or nerve impulses meet. Not related to English empire.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɛmˈpoɹ.i.əm/
- British English: /ɛmˈpɔːɹ.i.əm/