Keresked

Keresked is a historical or dialectal Hungarian noun that denotes a person who engages in trade, i.e., a merchant or trader. In modern standard Hungarian, the corresponding term is kereskedő. The form keresked is now rarely used outside historical texts and certain regional dialects, where it appears as a legacy or root form rather than as everyday vocabulary.

In older legal, commercial, and literary sources, a keresked is described in the context of commerce and market activity. The term often occurs in descriptions of economic life, guild records, or travel reports, where the focus is on the person’s role as a trader rather than on a specific occupation title. Its usage tends to be limited to historical documentation and did not become the contemporary norm in standard language.

Etymology and relation to other terms: Keresked derives from the verb kereskedni, meaning to trade. The modern standard noun for a person who trades is kereskedő, formed with the agent suffix and the commonly used occupational noun pattern. The noun keresked thus survives primarily as a historical form and as a linguistic stem in discussions of older Hungarian commerce and language evolution. Related terms include kereskedelem (commerce or trade) and kereskedelmi (commercial, trade-related).

See also: kereskedő, kereskedelem, kereskedelmi. Notes from Hungarian dictionaries and historical corpora indicate that keresked is obsolete or dialectal in current usage, with modern terminology favoring kereskedő.