entrepôt

or en·tre·pot

[ ahn-truh-poh; French ahn-truh-poh ]

noun

, plural en·tre·pôts [ahn, -tr, uh, -pohz, ah, n, -t, r, uh, -, poh].

1. a warehouse.
2. a commercial center where goods are received for distribution, transshipment, or repackaging.

entrepôt

/ ɑ̃trəpo /

noun

1. a warehouse for commercial goods
2. 1. a trading centre or port at a geographically convenient location, at which goods are imported and re-exported without incurring liability for duty
   2. ( as modifier )

      an entrepôt trade

Word History and Origins

Origin of entrepôt¹

1715–25; < French, equivalent to entre inter- + pôt < Latin positum, noun use of neuter past participle of pōnere to put, place (modeled on dépôt depot )

Word History and Origins

Origin of entrepôt¹

C18: French, from entreposer to put in, from entre- between, inter- + poser to place (see pose ¹); formed on the model of depot

Example Sentences

Over the past few years, the Emirati leaders have seized opportunities presented by various calamities — including the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine — to cement their nation’s status as a triumphant entrepôt, where British multimillionaires mingle with Russian oligarchs and Indian tycoons.

From New York Times

In time, America became such an entrepôt among these continents that an eighteenth-century visitor, lending this show its title and theme, called Mexico City ‘the archive of the world.’

From New York Times

Xi Jinping will leave China for the first time in more than two years this week to meet Vladimir Putin at the ancient Silk Road entrepot of Samarkand.

From Reuters

All around them, a city has been transformed: by the dizzying economic expansion of mainland China threatening to make this international entrepôt unnecessary, but also by the crushing of freedoms by Hong Kong’s current rulers, who have filled jails with young political prisoners.

From New York Times

Much of its layout dates back to its time as an Ottoman protectorate and entrepot for corsair plunder, in the centuries before a French expeditionary force landed at Sidi Ferruch in 1830.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• cache
• depot
• repository
• stockpile
• storehouse