Words ending -monger

There are two small groups of words formed by the combination of the stem –monger with a variety of prefixes. The word monger itself, which is no longer used on its own in contemporary English, comes originally, through Middle English mongere and Old English mangere, from the Latin mango (genitive mangonis), a dealer or trader.

• The first group of words with –monger as their stem comprises words denoting a person who trades or deals in some commodity, e.g.,

fishmonger - a person who sells fish. (The word is largely confined to British English).

ironmonger – a person who sells metal goods, e.g., saucepans, locks, screws and nails, hammers and other tools. (To refer to a shop selling such goods as an ironmonger’s would nowadays probably strike many native English-speakers as a little old-fashioned: the phrase ‘hardware shop’ or ‘hardware store’ would be more likely to be used.)

cheesemonger – a person who sells cheeses. (The word is not often used.)

costermonger (sometimes abbreviated as coster) - a person who sells fruit and vegetables from a barrow or market stall. (Again, the word is not much used nowadays.) The word coster comes from costard, an English variety of apple tree which produces a large, ribbed apple.

whoremonger (pronounced IPA: /'hɔː mʌŋ gə/) - a person who associates with whores (i.e.,, prostitutes) whether as client, procurer, or manager - though the word is sometimes used loosely to mean simply ‘lecher’ or ‘sexually promiscuous male’. The word is no longer used in contemporary English, but is found in the Authorised Version of the New Testament – see 1 Timothy 1.10, Hebrews 13.4, and Revelation 21.8.

Other members of this group include: fellmonger (a trader in animal skins or fells); peltmonger (with the same meaning as fellmonger); and lightmonger (a seller or installer of electric lights).

• The second group of words with –monger as their stem comprises words denoting a person who seeks to foster an emotion or promote an idea. (Clearly these words draw on the notion of trading, of buying and selling, in a metaphorical sense.) All the words in this second group have negative emotive force, implying disapproval of the person denoted and his or her activity. (It should also be noted that, whereas the words in the first group are little used and likely to strike most native English speakers as rather old-fashioned, this is not true of the words in the second group, which are well-established and widely used in contemporary English.)

Words in this second group include:

gossipmonger - a person who takes pleasure in spreading gossip and is always eager to hear the latest gossip.

panicmonger – a person who spreads alarm and panic.

scandalmonger - a person who spreads scandal and is keen to be told about the latest scandal.

scaremonger – a person who delights in spreading rumours of disaster.

warmonger – a person who promotes warlike ideas and policies, and agitates for war.

All the words in this second group have corresponding gerunds, i.e., verbal nouns denoting the relevant activity, viz., gossipmongering, panicmongering, scandakmongering, scaremongering, warmongering.

Note on pronunciation: All the words in both groups are pronounced with the stress on the prefix, and, if the prefix has more than one syllable, on its first syllable. The stem has a hard 'g' and is pronounced IPA: /mʌŋgə/.