traffic

English

/ˈtɹæfɪk/

noun
Definitions
  • Pedestrians or vehicles on roads, or the flux or passage thereof.
  • Commercial transportation or exchange of goods, or the movement of passengers or people.
  • Illegal trade or exchange of goods, often drugs.
  • Exchange or flux of information, messages or data, as in a computer or telephone network.
  • Commodities of the market.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French trafique (traffic) derived from Italian traffico (traffic) derived from Latin *trānsfrīcāre derived from Arabic تَفْرِيق (dispersion, distribution).

Origin

Arabic

تَفْرِيق

Gloss

dispersion, distribution

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms