Engaged in commerce or trade; past tense of the archaic or rare verb 'commerce' meaning to conduct business or traffic.
From 'commerce' (from Latin 'commercium', trade between merchants) plus the past tense suffix '-ed'. This form is now archaic, as 'commerce' is primarily a noun in modern English.
This word is almost extinct because English stopped using 'commerce' as a verb centuries ago—we now say 'traded' or 'did business' instead, showing how verbs can fossilize into nouns as language evolves and becomes more specialized!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.