entrepôt

See also: entrepot

English

WOTD – 20 March 2023

Etymology

PIE word
*h₁én

Borrowed from French entrepôt, entrepost (temporary storage of goods; place for temporary storage and distribution of goods) (archaic), from entreposer (to store goods in a warehouse), with the ending influenced by dépôt (store, warehouse, depot).[1]

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌɒntɹəˈpəʊ/, /ˈɒntɹəpəʊ/, /ˈɒ̃-/
  • (file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˌɑntɹəˈpoʊ/
  • Rhymes: -əʊ
  • Hyphenation: en‧tre‧pôt

Noun

entrepôt (plural entrepôts) (business)

  1. A city, port, or other place where merchandise is sent for import, processing, distribution, and/or export, especially one where such merchandise is exempt from some customs duties; hence, a commercial centre.
    • 1999, Murray A. Rubenstein, “Introduction”, in Murray A. Rubinstein, editor, Taiwan: A New History (An East Gate Book; Taiwan in the Modern World), Armonk, N.Y., London: M[yron] E. Sharpe, →ISBN, page x:
      South of Taichung is the old port town of Lu-kang. Here again we come face to face with Taiwan's past, sometimes in dramatic fashion. Founded in the seventeenth century, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Lu-kang was an important port city with strong ties to Ch'uan-chou—the eighteenth-century classic but declining entrepôt of southern Min Fukien.
    • 2012 October 20, “Immigration: The Tories’ barmiest policy”, in The Economist, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2012-12-06:
      So why is Mr [David] Cameron's government pursuing an immigration policy that is creating red tape, stifling entrepreneurs and hobbling Britain? The country has, in effect, installed a "keep out" sign over the white cliffs of Dover. Even as Mr Cameron defends the City of London as a global financial centre, and takes planeloads of business folk on foreign trips, his government ratchets up measures that would turn an entrepôt into a fortress.
  2. (archaic)
    1. The temporary storage of merchandise, especially for subsequent distribution or export.
    2. (also figuratively) A depot or warehouse for temporarily storing merchandise.

Alternative forms

Translations

References

  1. entrepôt, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; entrepôt, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

French

Etymology

Deverbal from entreposer (to store goods in a warehouse), with the ending influenced by dépôt (store, warehouse, depot).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɑ̃.tʁə.po/
  • (file)

Noun

entrepôt m (plural entrepôts)

  1. warehouse; storehouse
    Near-synonyms: dépôt, magasin

Further reading

Anagrams

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