business

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The activity of buying and selling goods and services to make money.

   She studied marketing because she wants to go into business.

2. 2
   noun

   A company or organization that buys and sells goods or services.

   He started a small business selling handmade jewelry.

3. 3
   noun

   Something that concerns a particular person; their own affairs.

   What I do in my free time is none of your business.

4. 4
   noun

   The amount of trade or work that a company is doing.

   Business is good today, so we may sell out.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Business descends from Old English bisignis, which meant “anxiety” and, more commonly, “the state of being busy.” Its modern senses began to develop in the later Middle Ages, and busyness was formed in the early 19th century to distinguish the state of being busy from those newer meanings.

From Middle English busines, busynes, businesse, bisynes, from Old English bisiġnes (“business, busyness”), equivalent to busy + -ness. Doublet of busyness. Sense 17 (something very good, top quality), possibly derives from "the bee's knees"

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary