mercantilism

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"mercantilism" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“mercantilism” is uncommon English (frequency #79,753 among 36,575 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#79,753
frequency rank, English
36,575
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The theory that a nation must always have a positive balance of trade, in the manner that a merchant would operate a shop. Typically this model presupposes protectionism.

Key facts for mercantilism
PropertyValue
Headwordmercantilism
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Frequency rank#79,753
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “mercantilism” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). mercantilism lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

mercantilism is uncommon English at frequency #79,753 among 36,575 “M” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

mercantilism doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From mercantile + -ism. The correct English form is mercantilism, spelled M-E-R-C-A-N-T-I-L-I-S-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The theory that a nation must always have a positive balance of trade, in the manner that a merchant would operate a shop. Typically this model presupposes protectionism.
  2. 2
    The theory that holds that the prosperity of a nation depends upon its supply of capital, and that the global volume of trade is unchangeable.

Etymology

From mercantile + -ism.

This word in other languages

mercantilismo(Español)mercantilisme(Français)Merkantilismus(Deutsch)mercantilismo(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mercantilism"?
"mercantilism" is spelled M-E-R-C-A-N-T-I-L-I-S-M.
What does "mercantilism" mean?
As a noun, "mercantilism" means: The theory that a nation must always have a positive balance of trade, in the manner that a merchant would operate a shop. Typically this model presupposes protectionism.
What is the origin of the word "mercantilism"?
From mercantile + -ism. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “mercantilism”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is M-E-R-C-A-N-T-I-L-I-S-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list