trade [LME] Trade came from German and is related to tread [OE]. It originally meant ‘a track or way’, and then ‘a way of life’, and ‘a skilled handicraft’ [E16th]—the ‘buying and selling’ sense dates from the mid 16th century. A trade wind has nothing to do with commerce. The term arose in the early 17th century from blow trade ‘to blow steadily in the same direction’, or along the same course or track. Sailors thought that many winds blew in this way, but as navigation technology improved they realized that there are only two belts of trade winds proper, blowing steadily towards the equator from the northeast in the northern hemisphere and from the southeast in the southern hemisphere.