牙行 (yáháng): broker (historical)

Meanings

1 broker (historical)
2 middleman / commission agent (in old China)
3 brokerage house

Characters

牙

yá

tooth / (here) intermediary

行

háng

trade / business

Examples

明清时期,大宗商品交易多通过牙行进行。

Míng-Qīng shíqī, dàzōng shāngpǐn jiāoyì duō tōngguò yáháng jìnxíng.

In the Ming and Qing eras, bulk-commodity trade mostly went through brokers.

他家祖上是开牙行的。

Tā jiā zǔshàng shì kāi yáháng de.

His ancestors ran a brokerage house.

Tips

history

牙行 first appeared in the Tang dynasty and became a regulated trade by the Ming, when the state issued 牙帖 licenses and collected commissions. The agents themselves were called 牙人 or 牙郎. The institution faded after the Republic introduced modern commercial law.

mistakes

Read 行 as háng (a trade/business), not xíng (to walk). Same reading as in 银行 yínháng.