Commercial

How to spell commercial

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce commercial

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does commercial mean?

1. adjectiveConcerned with or engaged in buying and selling, or done mainly to make a profit.
2. nounA paid advertisement broadcast on television or radio.

Commercial in a sentence

• adjective

  The building was rezoned for commercial use rather than housing.

• noun

  She muted the television during every commercial break.

• adjective

  The film was a commercial success despite the poor reviews.

• noun

  The company filmed a thirty-second commercial for the new car.

Where does commercial come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin noun commercium, meaning 'trade' or 'commerce', which was itself built from the prefix com-, meaning 'together', and merx, the word for 'merchandise' or 'wares'. The literal idea was people coming together to exchange goods. From merx the Romans also formed mercari, 'to trade', which is why the same root surfaces in 'merchant', 'market', 'mercenary', and even 'mercy' (originally a payment or reward). English took 'commercial' in the early 1600s, by way of French commercial, first as an adjective describing anything to do with buying and selling, and only much later, in the twentieth century, as a noun for a paid advertisement on radio or television. The spelling trap lies in the double m carried over from com- meeting merc, and in the soft -cial ending that sounds like 'shul'.

How the word is built

• com- (together, with)
• merc (trade, from Latin merx 'merchandise, wares')
• -ial (adjective suffix)