What does vendee mean?
Vendee means a buyer: the person who purchases goods, property, or another type of asset. It is especially common in legal and commercial contexts, where transactions may involve a vendor who sells something and a vendee who acquires it. The word can refer to an actual purchaser or, in some contracts, the person designated to receive or take ownership of property. It has a precise, professional tone and is more characteristic of contracts, property law, finance, and business than of everyday conversation. In less formal settings, buyer or purchaser would usually be preferred. Vendee is also useful as the counterpart to vendor, making the respective roles in a transaction immediately clear. Its distinctive suffix, -ee, helps signal that the person is the recipient or buyer in the exchange.
nounA person who buys or purchases something, especially in a legal or commercial transaction.
- A person who buys something, especially in a legal or commercial transaction.
"The contract sets out the obligations of both the vendor and the vendee."
"The vendee inspected the property before completing the purchase."
"As the principal vendee, she was responsible for the agreed payment."
The plural is formed by adding -s.
"The two vendees signed the agreement before the closing."
Vendee is the legal mirror image of vendor: one sells, the other buys.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of vendee
Vendee entered English from the French vendue, the feminine past participle of vendre, meaning “sold,” used for the thing or person to whom something was sold. French vendre ultimately derives from Latin vendere, “to sell.” The word appeared in English in the early 17th century and became especially established in legal and commercial language. Its Latin root also connects it with words such as vendor, vendible, and vendition.
How vendee is actually used
Vendee is formal and especially common in legal, financial, and transactional writing. In ordinary conversation, buyer or purchaser is usually more natural.
Easily confused with vendee
A vendor sells or offers something for sale, while a vendee buys it or is the person to whom it is sold.