intermédiaire

Intermédiaire is a French noun and adjective referring to a person, entity, or element that acts as a link or mediator between two or more parties or stages in a process. As a noun, it is commonly translated as intermediary, middleman, broker, or agent, depending on the context. As an adjective, it denotes something situated or occurring between two points or steps, such as an intermediate stage.

In economics and business, intermediaries connect buyers and sellers and facilitate transactions. Common types include brokers, agents, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and online platforms. Intermediaries may or may not take title to goods and often provide value by reducing information gaps, coordinating logistics, bearing risk, financing transactions, or offering specialized expertise. They are organized within marketing channels and supply chains to improve efficiency and access to markets.

In manufacturing and chemistry, the term also identifies intermediate products or steps. A produits intermédiaires is a substance produced during a synthesis that is not final but serves as a precursor to subsequent reactions or processes.

Regulatory and legal usage varies by jurisdiction. Intermediaries in finance, for example, are institutions or individuals that channel funds between savers and borrowers and are subject to specific governance and disclosure requirements. In the digital economy, platforms that connect users act as online intermediaries and may enjoy certain liability regimes depending on the applicable law.

Overall, intermédiaire designates the mediating function across contexts, highlighting the role of intermediaries in connecting parties, facilitating exchange, and shaping process flows.