trade
n. C / Un. the activity of buying, selling, or exchanging goods and services between people or countries. It can also mean a specific job that requires special skills, like being a plumber or a carpenter.
n. the act or process of buying, selling, or exchanging commodities, either within a country or between countries. Also refers to a skilled manual occupation requiring specific training or apprenticeship.
The two countries signed a new agreement to increase trade.
After finishing high school, he decided to learn a trade and became a successful electrician.
Economists argue that free trade benefits all participating nations by allowing them to specialise in industries where they hold a comparative advantage.
From Middle English trade (“path, course of conduct”), introduced into English by Hanseatic merchants, from Middle Low German trade (“track, course”), from Old Saxon trada (“spoor, track”), from Proto-West Germanic tradu, from Proto-Germanic tradō (“track, way”), and cognate with Old English tredan (“to tread”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂- (“to tread, walk, step, run”). Cognate with Dutch trade, tra (“path, trail, course, trade”), German Low German Traad (“track, wagon trail”), Luxembourgish Tratt (“step, pace”), Icelandic tröð (“a lane between fences, enclosure, pen”).
Uncountable when referring to the general activity of commerce; countable when referring to a specific exchange or a particular skilled occupation.
He is learning a new business as a plumber.He is learning a new trade as a plumber.Learners often use 'business' or 'job' when referring to skilled manual work, but 'trade' is the specific term for crafts like plumbing or masonry.