Etymograph

English

mercable

Mercable comes from Latin mercabilis ‘purchasable, available for sale’, from mercor ‘to trade, traffic, buy’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *merks.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*merks1reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmerx1‘merchandise, commodity’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmercor2as mercari‘to trade, traffic, buy’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmercabilis2‘purchasable, available for sale’
  5. Englishtodaymercable2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin mercor
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English mercable

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*merksWiktionary, Latin mercorreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmerxWiktionary, Latin mercor‘merchandise, commodity’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmercorWiktionary, English mercableas mercari‘to trade, traffic, buy’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmercabilisWiktionary, English mercable‘purchasable, available for sale’
  5. EnglishtodaymercableWiktionary, English mercable

Linked words

through Latin merx ‘merchandise, commodity’

commercial, commerce, mercy, mercer, mercenary, merci, 18 more

through Latin mercor ‘to trade, traffic, buy’

market, merchant, merchandise, 17 more

Today it means

adj Capable of being bought or sold.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “mercable”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin mercor. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *merks / mercable

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