Etymology From Middle French trafique, traffique (“traffic”), from Italian traffico (“traffic”) from trafficare (“to carry on trade”). Potentially from Vulgar Latin *trānsfrīcāre (“to rub across”); Klein instead suggests the Italian has ultimate origin in Arabic تَفْرِيق (tafrīq, “distribution, dispersion”), reshaped to match the native prefix tra- (“trans-”). The adjectival sense is possibly influenced by Tagalog trapik and follows a general trend in Philippine English to construct a noun from an adjective.
Usually Moving pedestrians or vehicles, or the flux or passage thereof.
The traffic is slow during rush hour.
VVhoſe miſaduentures, piteous ouerthrovves, / (Through the continuing of their Fathers ſtrife, / And death-markt paſſage of their Parents rage) / Is novv the tvvo hovvres traffique of our Stage.c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], “The Prologue”, in […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC:
2
Usually The commercial transportation or exchange of goods, or the movement of passengers or people.
I had three large axes, and abundance of hatchets (for we carried the hatchets for traffic with the Indians).1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
To assume that the recent investigation of the white slave traffic (and, by the way, a very superficial investigation) has discovered anything new, is, to say the least, very foolish1910, Emma Goldman, “The Traffic in Women”, in Anarchism and Other Essays:
1 more example
Its units of study are regions or oceans, long-distance trades [...], the traffic of cults and beliefs between cultures and continents.2007, John Darwin, After Tamerlane, Penguin, page 12:
3
Usually The illegal trade or exchange of goods, often drugs.
They, in turn, had long dominated the drug traffic in the area of north-east Afghanistan that they controlled during the Taliban years.2018 January 9, Alfred W. McCoy, “How the heroin trade explains the US-UK failure in Afghanistan”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
4
Usually The exchange or flux of information, messages or data, as in a computer or telephone network.
The parish stank of idolatry, abominable rites were practiced in secret, and in all the bounds there was no one had a more evil name for the black traffic than one Alison Sempill, who bode at the Skerburnfoot.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
Internet traffic to legal pornography sites in the UK comprised 8.5% of all "clicks" on web pages in June – exceeding those for shopping, news, business or social networks, according to new data obtained exclusively by the Guardian.2013 July 26, Charles Arthur, “Porn sites get more internet traffic in UK than social networks or shopping”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
5
Broadcasting, Media, RadioUsually Of CB radio, formal written messages relayed on behalf of others.
6
Advertising, Business, MarketingUsually The amount of attention paid to a particular printed page etc., in a publication.
Those fixed locations which are sold to advertisers become preferred according to the expected page traffic.1950, Advertising & Selling (volume 43, part 2, page 53)
7
Usually The commodities of the market.
You'll see a draggled damsel / From Billingsgate her fishy traffic bear.1716, John Gay, Trivia, or The Art of Walking the Streets of London:
Etymology From Middle French trafique, traffique (“traffic”), from Italian traffico (“traffic”) from trafficare (“to carry on trade”). Potentially from Vulgar Latin *trānsfrīcāre (“to rub across”); Klein instead suggests the Italian has ultimate origin in Arabic تَفْرِيق (tafrīq, “distribution, dispersion”), reshaped to match the native prefix tra- (“trans-”). The adjectival sense is possibly influenced by Tagalog trapik and follows a general trend in Philippine English to construct a noun from an adjective.
1
To pass goods and commodities from one person to another for an equivalent in goods or money; to buy or sell goods.
2
To trade meanly or mercenarily; to bargain.
3
To exchange in traffic; to effect by a bargain or for a consideration.
A Libyan longing took us, and we would have chosen, if we could, to bear a strand of grotesque beads, or a handful of brazen gauds, and traffic them for some sable maid with crisp locks, whom, uncoffling from the captive train beside the desert, we should make to do our general housework forever, through the right of lawful purchase.1912, The World's Wit and Humor, page 176:
Etymology From Middle French trafique, traffique (“traffic”), from Italian traffico (“traffic”) from trafficare (“to carry on trade”). Potentially from Vulgar Latin *trānsfrīcāre (“to rub across”); Klein instead suggests the Italian has ultimate origin in Arabic تَفْرِيق (tafrīq, “distribution, dispersion”), reshaped to match the native prefix tra- (“trans-”). The adjectival sense is possibly influenced by Tagalog trapik and follows a general trend in Philippine English to construct a noun from an adjective.