Added 30 September 2026
emporium
/ɛmˈpɔːɹ.i.əm/ noun
In Latin: emporium Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about emporium at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- A city or region which is a major trading centre; also, a place within a city for commerce and trading; a marketplace.
-
A shop that offers a wide variety of goods for sale; a department store; a shop specializing in particular goods.
With a name like “The Wine and Spirits Emporium”, no wonder the prices are so high.
- A business set up to enable foreign traders to engage in commerce in a country; a factory (now the more common term).
Origin
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.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)