commodity

A product that is sold in very large volumes and is always the same. These are the boring old items such as "wheat" or "pork bellies". Guess what the two most commonly traded commodities are? The two things that keep us moving around: oil and coffee. Drugs like Aspirin are becoming commodities as their patents are timing out.

A seller of commodities is competing strictly on price since the buyer can easily switch from one supplier to another with little or no recourse.

Com*mod"i*ty (?), n.; pl. Commodities (#). [F. commodit, fr. L. commoditas. See Commode.]

1.

Convenience; accommodation; profit; benefit; advantage; interest; commodiousness.

Drawn by the commodity of a footpath. B. Jonson.

Men may seek their own commodity, yet if this were done with injury to others, it was not to be suffered. Hooker.

2.

That which affords convenience, advantage, or profit, especially in commerce, including everything movable that is bought and sold (except animals), -- goods, wares, merchandise, produce of land and manufactures, etc.

3.

A parcel or quantity of goods.

A commodity of brown paper and old ginger. Shak.

© Webster 1913.