commerce

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 商 is associated with buying and selling; its on-reading is しょう.
• Basic usage: 商売, read しょうばい, means business or trade; 商人, read しょうにん, means merchant.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Running a business and the person doing it
  • 花を売る商売をしている means running a business selling flowers and explains what the business does.
  • 商人 identifies the person who brings cloth or explains flaws in goods to customers. Distinguish the business activity, 商売, from the person, 商人.