wet market

noun

plural wet markets

: a market that sells perishable items (such as fresh meat and produce) and sometimes live animals which are often slaughtered on-site

But wet markets, as opposed to dry markets, which sell non-perishable goods such as grain or household products, are simply places that offer a wide range of fresh produce. Some, but not all, also sell live animals.

—Ben Westcott and Serenitie Wang

Experts fear a similar regulatory failure may have enabled the coronavirus outbreak: the longstanding inability to clean up so-called wet markets, which are stuffed with livestock living and dead, domesticated and wild.

—Max Fisher

Examples of wet market in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

With no large-scale hypermarkets, shoppers rose at dawn to snag the freshest produce at local wet markets. — Angelica Ang, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2026

And a comprehensive 2024 study in the journal Cell looked at samples from a wet market in Wuhan, finding that those that tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus clustered around a stall where live animals were sold. — Eric McDaniel, NPR, 6 Aug. 2026

Marmots, woodland creatures whose raw viscera are believed by Siberians to have medicinal properties, are not infrequently hunted by poachers and sold at wet markets. — Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker, 25 July 2026

The victim was a 61-year-old man who was reported to be a regular visitor to Wuhan’s wet market. — Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com, 10 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

allegedly so called from the wet floors of such markets, due to the melting of ice used to keep seafood fresh and the frequent hosing down of stalls

First Known Use

1978, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for wet market

• nonmarket
• premarket
• upmarket
• aftermarket
• patriarchate
• supermarket