English Reference
noun

seller

n.
US /ˈsɛɫɝ/ UK /sˈɛlɐ/ sell·er

  1. 01 A2 Elementary

    a person or business that sells something.

    a person, business, or entity that offers goods or services for sale.

    Simple

    The seller agreed to lower the price because the car had a small scratch.

    In context

    The online marketplace protects both the buyer and the seller by holding the funds until the item is delivered and inspected.

  2. 02 B1 Intermediate

    a product that people buy a lot of, often used with words like 'best'.

    a product or commodity considered in terms of its sales performance.

    Simple

    Her first novel was a best seller and was translated into ten languages.

    In context

    The marketing team identified the compact SUV as their biggest seller in the European market last quarter.

  3. 03 C2 Proficiency Archaic

    an old way of spelling 'cellar' — a room under a house.

    an obsolete orthographic variant of 'cellar', referring to an underground room for storage.

    Simple

    In the old manuscript, the word for the wine room was written as 'seller'.

    In context

    The researcher noted that in sixteenth-century documents, the term 'seller' frequently appeared where modern readers would expect 'cellar'.


Etymology 1

From Middle English seller, sellere, (also siller, sullar, sullere), from Old English sellere, syllere, equivalent to sell + -er (agent noun) (sense 1) and sell + -er (patient) (sense 2). Cognate with Danish sælger, Swedish säljare, Icelandic seljari (“a seller; dealer”).

Etymology 2

Alternative forms.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin Old English *sellere
Level A2 · Elementary
Frequency Common
Updated