Traffic Definition

trăfĭk

trafficked, trafficking, traffics

noun

traffics

Trading over great distances; commerce.

Webster's New World

Vehicles or pedestrians in transit.

Heavy traffic on the turnpike; stopped oncoming traffic to let the children cross.

American Heritage

Transportation of goods for trading.

Webster's New World

Buying and selling; barter; trade, sometimes, specif., of a wrong or illegal kind.

Traffic in drugs.

Webster's New World

The movement or number of automobiles along a street, pedestrians along a sidewalk, ships using a port, etc.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

verb

trafficked, traffics

To carry on traffic, esp. illegal trade (in a commodity)

Webster's New World

To have traffic, trade, or dealings (with someone)

Webster's New World

(intransitive) To pass goods and commodities from one person to another for an equivalent in goods or money; to buy or sell goods; to barter; to trade.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

adjective

Of or having to do with traffic.

A traffic violation, traffic manager.

Webster's New World

Origin of Traffic

French trafic from Old French trafique from Old Italian traffico from trafficare to trade perhaps from Catalan trafegar to decant from Vulgar Latin trānsfaecāre trāns- trans- faex faec- dregs feces

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From Middle French trafique (“traffic"), from Italian traffico (“traffic") from Italian trafficare (“to carry on trade"). Potentially from Vulgar Latin *transfricare (“to rub across").

From Wiktionary