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 Like Ap Lei Chau Market, a wet market with seafood straight from the nearby ocean. Alex Lau, New York Times, 26 Sep. 2024 The 2002-2003 SARS-CoV-1 outbreak started in a Chinese wet market. John P. Moore, STAT, 2 Aug. 2024 Live animal markets, or ‘wet markets,’ continue their popularity despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Jasmine Baehr, Fox News, 12 July 2024 Global regulation of land use and deforestation, trade in wild animals, intensive farming and the overuse of antibiotics in farmed animals, and wet markets (which likely originated Covid-19) could all help prevent zoonotic spillovers. Alexandra Phelan, STAT, 27 May 2024 No one wants the U.S. dairy industry to become a Wuhan wet market for the next global pandemic. Céline Gounder, STAT, 17 May 2024 Among the first places where COVID was discovered was a wet market in Wuhan where exotic species were on sales. Sophia Sun, Variety, 6 Nov. 2023 These wet markets facilitated the emergence of SARS-CoV-1 in bats, civet cats, and humans in 2002 and, some speculate, the novel coronavirus in 2019. Sonia Shah, Foreign Affairs, 17 Apr. 2020 On February 17, one post accused Wang of flouting the biosafety rules and selling laboratory animals to wet markets for profit. Yanzhong Huang, Foreign Affairs, 5 Mar. 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wet market.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of wet market was in 1978

Dictionary Entries Near wet market

Cite this Entry

“Wet market.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wet%20market. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!