entrepot

Noun

entrepôt (plural entrepôts)

1. A city, port, or other place where merchandise is sent for import, processing, distribution, and/or export, especially one where such merchandise is exempt from some customs duties; hence, a commercial centre.
   • South of Taichung is the old port town of Lu-kang. Here again we come face to face with Taiwan's past, sometimes in dramatic fashion. Founded in the seventeenth century, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Lu-kang was an important port city with strong ties to Ch'uan-chou—the...1999, Murray A. Rubenstein, “Introduction”, in Murray A. Rubinstein, editor, Taiwan: A New History (An East Gate Book; Taiwan in the Modern World), Armonk, N.Y.; London: M[yron] E. Sharpe, →ISBN...
2. (archaic) The temporary storage of merchandise, especially for subsequent distribution or export.
3. (also, archaic, figuratively) A depot or warehouse for temporarily storing merchandise.