cartel

Etymology

In the business sense, borrowed from German Kartell, first used by Eugen Richter in 1871 in the Reichstag. In the political sense, which was the vehicle for this metaphor, the English sense, like the German sense, was borrowed from French cartel in the sixteenth century, from Italian cartello, diminutive of carta (“card, page”), from Latin charta.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɑːˈtɛl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /kɑɹˈtɛl/
• Rhymes: -ɛl

Noun

cartel (plural cartels)

2. (economics) A group of businesses or nations that collude to limit competition within an industry or market.

   oil cartel

   drug cartel

   • 2023 January 10, Whitney Eulich, America Armenta, “Mexico arrests son of ‘El Chapo’: Why don’t citizens feel safer?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

     Over the past decade, the very nature of organized crime has changed, with many groups diversifying their income beyond drug trafficking, and large cartels splintering into smaller, oftentimes more nimble groups.

3. (historical, politics) A combination of political groups (notably parties) for common action.
4. (historical) A written letter of defiance or challenge.
   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:

     He is cowed at the very idea of a cartel.

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     Xerxes whipped the Sea, and writ a cartell of defiance to the hill Athos.

5. (historical, law) An official agreement concerning the exchange of prisoners.
   • 1832, Tales of the Alhambra, Washington Irving:

     He then sent down a flag of truce in military style, proposing a cartel or exchange of prisoners – the corporal for the notary.

6. (historical, nautical) A ship used to negotiate with an enemy in time of war, and to exchange prisoners.

Further reading

• cartel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Claret, arclet, claret, lacert, rectal

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

cartel n (plural cartels, diminutive carteltje n)

1. Obsolete form of kartel (“cartel”).

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cartello, diminutive of carta, from Latin carta. Related to English card.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaʁ.tɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

cartel m (plural cartels)

1. a cartel

References

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Cartel”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.

Further reading

• “cartel”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• clarté
• rectal
• tacler