Trade wind

Origin of: Trade wind

Trade wind

Some people misconstrue the meaning of trade wind as a wind that facilitates trade as in commerce. First attested from the mid-17th century, trade winds did indeed facilitate trade and commerce, but this is not its origin. It derives in fact from a nautical expression, ‘to blow trade’, signifying a wind that blows constantly in the same direction. The etymology is Middle Low German trade, meaning a track, a course or a direction and as such has nothing to with trade as in commerce.