emporium

Pronunciation: /ɛmˈpoɹ.i.əm/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a large retail store organized into departments offering a variety of merchandise; commonly part of a retail chain

Etymology

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

department store

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
mercantile establishment

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading

Nice save! Solidify it with review →