Seller

How to spell seller

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce seller

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does seller mean?

1. nounA person or business that offers goods or property for sale.

Seller in a sentence

• The seller agreed to lower the asking price on the house.

• Each seller on the online marketplace must list a return policy.

Where does seller come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word traces to the Old English verb sellan, which originally meant 'to give' or 'to hand over' rather than specifically to exchange for money; the commercial sense crept in only gradually as bargaining and trade sharpened the meaning. This belongs to a broad Germanic family, with relatives in Old Norse selja and other northern tongues, all carrying the idea of delivering or surrendering something. The agent suffix -er, also native Germanic, simply marks the person who performs the action, so a seller is literally 'one who sells'. The everyday phrase 'to sell someone short' and the older legal language of 'selling' an estate both preserve that ancient sense of handing over. The chief spelling trap is the homophone 'cellar', the underground room, which comes from an entirely unrelated Latin word; keeping 'seller' tied to the plain verb 'sell' is the surest way to remember it ends in -er.

How the word is built

• sell (from Old English sellan: to give, hand over)
• -er (agent suffix: one who does)

Words that sound like seller

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• cellar: A room below ground level in a building, typically used for storage.