hawker

1 of 2

noun (1)

hawk·​er ˈhȯ-kər How to pronounce hawker (audio)

hawker

2 of 2

noun (2)

: one who hawks wares
The sidewalks are filled with hawkers selling vegetables and trinkets and women in blankets roasting cobs of corn on makeshift fires.Richard Stengal

Examples of hawker in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Shares of Apple slipped 0.6% after the iPhone hawker fell off of Goldman Sachs’ top stock pick list, while shares of the Google parent Alphabet fell 1.1%. Derek Saul, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 At makeshift street stalls, older children working as hawkers sell individual diapers for 3-5 shekels ($1 to $1.50) or entire packs of 50 for up to 200 shekels ($55). Wafaa Shurafa, Quartz, 16 Feb. 2024 In his home in Kafr El Dawar, Egypt, just outside of Alexandria, the bridges are choked with street hawkers. Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2024 Shares of this year’s five largest IPOs—British chip designer Arm, marketing firm Klaviyo, grocery delivery service Instacart, German sandal hawker Birkenstock and Johnson & Johnson spinoff Kenvue—are down an average of 2% from their initial listing price. Derek Saul, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023 If tango dancers and bargain souvenirs hawkers frequented art galleries. Megan Wood, Travel + Leisure, 14 Nov. 2023 Singapore Food Street, in the transit area of Terminal 3, will sate your hawker food craving. Chris Schalkx, Travel + Leisure, 21 Aug. 2023 Its hawker is a loud, bold and shameless salesman, his stock is endless, and the streets eat it like pigeons and popcorn, all day e’ry day. Jonathan Rowe, Spin, 11 Aug. 2023 Everyone is doing something—the flower seller, the street hawker at the vegetable stalls, the rickshaw puller. Chadner Navarro, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Sep. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hawker.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English haueker, hawker, going back to Old English hafocere, from hafoc hawk entry 1 + -ere -er entry 2

Noun (2)

by folk etymology from Low German höker, from Middle Low German hōker, from hōken to squat, peddle — more at hunker

First Known Use

Noun (1)

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

1512, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hawker was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near hawker

Cite this Entry

“Hawker.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hawker. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

hawker

1 of 2 noun
hawk·​er ˈhȯ-kər How to pronounce hawker (audio)

hawker

2 of 2 noun
: a person who hawks wares
Etymology

Noun

Low German höker, from höken "to peddle"

More from Merriam-Webster on hawker

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