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Glite Dictionary
supercargo

supercargo

1 9.9
A person on a cargo ship who looks after the goods and buys or sells them
  • noun
  • /ˈsuːpərˌkɑːrɡoʊ/
  • Archaic
: supercargador
  • The experienced supercargo ensured that the cargo was stored safely before setting sail.

Examples

  • The ship's supercargo sailed the Rawlins out of the port of St. Thomas without clearance papers or the captain, who was abandoned on shore.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Maybe you're a big yahoo in the lab, but out here you're just supercargo!

    Jaws (1975)

  • As the supercargo, she managed the sale of all goods while the ship was at port.

  • During the voyage, the supercargo was responsible for overseeing the cargo's condition and making decisions about its sale.

Surface Forms

supercargo singular
supercargos plural

Morphology

supercargo = cargo (semi-transparent) = super + cargo

The components 'super' + 'cargo' are recognizable, but the specialized occupational meaning ('officer responsible for cargo and its sale') is not fully predictable for average learners.

Etymology

Supercargo comes from Spanish and Portuguese parts super- meaning 'above' and cargo meaning 'load'. So a supercargo is literally 'above the load', which helps you remember that this officer is the person on a ship in charge of the goods and their sale.