Verb: to bring goods or services into a country from abroad for sale. Noun: something that is brought in from another country, or the importance of something (formal).
From Latin 'importare' meaning 'to bring in', from 'in-' (into) and 'portare' (to carry). The idea of 'importance' developed from the sense of something being 'carried in' as weighty or significant.
Import is literally about ‘carrying in’—whether that’s physical products or serious meaning. That’s why we talk about ‘imports and exports’ in trade and ‘a matter of great import’ in older, formal English.
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