the.com/middleman
Someone who gets paid for standing between you and what you want.
means A person or business that connects buyers and sellers (or producers and consumers), taking a cut for bridging the gap.
from Simple compound of 'middle' + 'man' — one who stands in the middle, literally and economically, between two parties in a transaction. English loves building words this way (middleman mirrors older patterns like 'go-between'), and it emerged as trade and distribution networks grew complex enough to need someone, or something, filling the gap between maker and buyer.
- origin
- term first used in 1560s English trade
- economics
- removing them rarely lowers price, just shifts markup
- modern form
- now called a platform, same cut
- irony
- everyone hates them until they need one