wage

English Online Dictionary. What means wage‎? What does wage mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /weɪd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -eɪdʒ

Etymology 1

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.

Noun

wage (plural wages)

1. (often in plural) 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.

Synonyms

• earnings, pay, salary

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wagen (“to pledge”), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wagier, a northern variant of Old French guagier (whence modern French gager), itself either from guage or from a derivative of Frankish *waddī, possibly through a Vulgar Latin intermediate *wadiō from *wadium.

Verb

wage (third-person singular simple present wages, present participle waging, simple past and past participle waged)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To wager, bet.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To expose oneself to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To employ for wages; to hire.
4. (transitive) To conduct or carry out (a war or other contest).
5. (transitive) To adventure, or lay out, for hire or reward; to hire out.
6. (obsolete, law, UK) To give security for the performance of

Usage notes

• "Wage" collocates strongly with "war", leading to expressions such as To wage peace, or To wage football implying the inclusion of a large element of conflict in the action.

Derived terms

• wager (agent noun)

Translations

References

• “wage”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Wega, waeg

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

wage

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of wagen

German

Pronunciation

Verb

wage

1. inflection of wagen:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
   3. singular imperative

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch wāga, from Proto-West Germanic *wāgu.

Noun

wâge f

1. weight
2. a certain weight, of which the exact value varied
3. weighing scale
4. weighhouse

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• wâgen

Descendants

• Dutch: waag

Further reading

• “waghe (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “wage (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old Northern French wage, from Frankish *wadi, from Proto-Germanic *wadją. Doublet of gage and wed.

Alternative forms

• wag, vage

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaːdʒ(ə)/

Noun

wage (plural wages)

1. A wage; earnings.
2. Money reserved for the payment of salaries.
3. An earned positive consequence.
4. A promise, pact, or agreement.

Related terms

• wagen

Descendants

• English: wage
• Scots: wage

References

• “wāǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.

Etymology 2

Verb

wage

1. Alternative form of wagen

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɑː.ɡe/, [ˈwɑː.ɣe]

Noun

wāge

1. dative singular of wāg

Old French

Etymology 1

From Old Norse vágr.

Noun

wage oblique singular, f (oblique plural wages, nominative singular wage, nominative plural wages)

1. wave (moving part of a liquid, etc.)

Etymology 2

see gage

Noun

wage oblique singular, m (oblique plural wages, nominative singular wages, nominative plural wage)

1. (Old Northern French) Alternative form of gage

Proto-Norse

Romanization

wāgē

1. Romanization of ᚹᚨᚷᛖ