Word.ws English Dictionary

silent barter

silent barter noun: a system of bartering, once common in Africa, in which traders remain silent, either because they have no language in common or because they both wish to keep secret and not discuss the origins of their goods (especially gold and salt).

Noun

silent barter (uncountable)

  1. A system of bartering, once common in Africa, in which traders remain silent, either because they have no language in common or because they both wish to keep secret and not discuss the origins of their goods (especially gold and salt).

Questions about silent barter

What does silent barter mean?
Silent barter means a system of bartering, once common in Africa, in which traders remain silent, either because they have no language in common or because they both wish to keep secret and not discuss the origins of their goods (especially gold and salt).
What part of speech is silent barter?
Silent barter is a noun.

Words near silent barter in the dictionary

  1. silent as a grave
  2. silent as the grave
  3. silent as the tomb
  4. silent auction
  5. silent auctions
  6. silent barter
  7. Silent Bob
  8. silent but deadly
  9. silent butler
  10. silent butlers
  11. silent cinema

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: silent barter (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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