mercantile agency
- noun
- /ˈmɜr.kən.taɪl ˈeɪ.dʒən.si/
:
agencia mercantil
- Dun & Bradstreet is a well-known mercantile agency that provides credit information on businesses.
Examples
-
Before extending credit, the supplier consulted a mercantile agency for a report on the buyer.
-
Many banks rely on mercantile agencies to assess the financial stability of commercial clients.
-
The mercantile agency provided valuable insights into the company's financial health.
-
Many businesses rely on a mercantile agency for credit information.
-
Before extending credit, the supplier consulted a mercantile agency for a report on the buyer.
-
Dun & Bradstreet is a well-known mercantile agency that provides credit information on businesses.
-
Many banks rely on mercantile agencies to assess the financial stability of commercial clients.
Synonyms
A company that gives businesses information about other companies, like credit ratings
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'mercantile' means commercial/trade-related and 'agency' means a firm providing services, so a B1 learner who knows those words can infer it is an organization that provides services for commercial matters (e.g., information for businesses). This follows normal noun–modifier composition and is cross-linguistically transparent, so the specific creditworthiness function is a predictable type of commercial service.
Etymology
Mercantile agency comes from old marketplaces where shopkeepers kept lists of customers and wrote down who paid and who did not. An agency was a company that collected these lists for many merchants, and mercantile means 'merchant'. That's why a mercantile agency today gives reports about whether a business can be trusted 'to pay' or 'to be given credit'.
