commerce

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French commerce, from Latin commercium.

noun

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.
   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. 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque
3. (obsolete) Sexual intercourse.
   these perillous commerces of our love
4. An 18th-century French card game in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade.

verb

1. (intransitive, archaic) To carry on trade; to traffic.
   Beware you commerce not with bankrupts.
2. (intransitive, archaic) To hold conversation; to communicate.