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Added 9 October 2026

wage

/weɪd͡ʒ/ noun

In Latin: mercēs, manupretium Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about wage at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

An amount of money paid to a worker for a specified quantity of work, usually calculated on an hourly basis and expressed in an amount of money per hour.
Before her promotion, her wages were 20% less.

verb

To wager, bet.
To expose oneself to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard.
To employ for wages; to hire.

Origin

From Middle English wage, from Anglo-Norman wage, from Old Northern French wage, a northern variant of Old French gauge, guage (whence modern French gage), Medieval Latin wadium, from Frankish *waddī (cognate with Old English wedd), from Proto-Germanic *wadją (“pledge”), from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- (“to pledge, redeem a pledge”). Akin to Old Norse veðja (“to pledge”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌳𐌹 (wadi), Dutch wedde. Compare also the doublet gage. More at wed.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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