Merchandise is goods sold carrying the name of a band, show or team. Tour merchandise, official merchandise, the merchandise stall.
In that sense it is usually shortened to merch, which is now the ordinary word — buy some merch, the merch table. The older and broader meaning is simply goods for sale, which survives in retail and shipping language: general merchandise, damaged merchandise. As a verb, to merchandise is to promote and display goods for sale, and merchandising is the whole business of arranging a shop so that things sell.
1nounmerchandiseGoods sold carrying the name of a band, show or team.
“Half their income comes from merchandise rather than tickets.”
2nounsaleGoods for sale generally.
“The merchandise arrived damaged and went straight back.”
merchandise is goods for sale.
Old French marchandise comes from marchand, a merchant, from Latin mercari, to trade — the same merx behind market and commerce. The word has always meant goods in trade; the band T-shirt is a very recent narrowing.
Anglo-Norman
marchaundise
Middle English
marchaundise
English, today
merchandise
From Middle English marchaundise, from Anglo-Norman marchaundise. From Middle English marchaundise (“commerce, trading; buying; business transaction, deal; merchandise, goods, wares; possessions”), from Anglo-Norman marchaundise and Old French marcheandise (modern French marchandise), from Old French marcheant (“seller, vendor”) (ultimately from Latin mercātus (“buying and selling, trade, traffic; market; marketplace”), possibly originally ett -) + -ise. The English word is analysable as merchant + ise.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA