wage

See also Wage

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /weɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪdʒ

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman, from Old Northern French wage, a northern variant of Old French gauge, guage (whence modern French gage), itself (possibly through a Vulgar Latin root *wadium) from Frankish *waddi, wadja (cognate with Old English wedd), from Proto-Germanic *wadjō, *wadi- (“pledge”), from Proto-Indo-European *wadh- (“to pledge, redeem a pledge”). Akin to Old Norse veþja "to pledge", Gothic wadi. Cf. also the doublet gage. More at wed. Possible contributory etylomolgy from from the Old English wæge (meaning "weight," as wages at times have been goods or coin measured on a scale).

Noun

wage (plural wages)

1. An amount of money paid to a worker for a specified quantity of work, usually expressed on an hourly basis.

Synonyms

• earnings, pay, salary

Derived terms

Terms derived from wage (noun)

hourly wage lost wages

wage moderation wage scale

Translations

money paid to a worker

• Arabic: أجر (ar) ('ájr) m, راتب (ar) (raatib) m
• Catalan: salari (ca) m, sou (ca) m, paga (ca) f, honorari (ca) m, estipendi (ca) m, remuneració (ca) f, retribució (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 工資 (cmn), 工资 (cmn) (gōngzī), 薪金 (cmn) (xīnjīn), 薪水 (cmn) (xīnshui)

• Czech: mzda (cs) f
• Dutch: loon (nl) n, salaris (nl) n
• Estonian: palk (et)
• Finnish: palkka (fi), ansiotulo (fi), liksa (fi)
• French: salaire (fr) m
• Georgian: ხელფასი (ka) (xelp’asi) ('khel'pa'si)
• German: Lohn (de) m
• Greek: μισθός (el) (misthós) m, (colloquial, daily wage) μεροκάματο (el) (merokámato) n
• Hebrew: משכורת (he) (maskoret) f, שכר (he) (sakhar) m
• Hindi: तनख़्वाह (hi) (tanaḵẖvāha), वेतन (hi) (vētana), मासिक वेतन (hi) (māsika vētana)
• Icelandic: laun (is) n pl
• Indonesian: gaji (id)

• Interlingua: paga (ia), salario (ia)
• Italian: salario (it) m
• Japanese: 給料 (ja) (きゅうりょう, kyūryō), サラリー (ja) (sararī), 賃金 (ja) (chingin)
• Korean: 임금 (ko) (imgeum), 급료 (ko) (geupryo), 봉급 (ko) (bonggeup), 삯 (ko) (sak(s)), 품삯 (ko) (pumsak)
• Kurdish: meaş (ku) m, miz (ku) m, muçe (ku) m, destheq (ku) f
• Persian: مزد (fa) (mōzd), دست‌مزد (fa) (dăst-mōzd), کارمزد (fa) (kär-mōzd)
• Polish: pensja (pl) f, płaca (pl) f
• Portuguese: salário (pt) m, ordenado (pt) m, remuneração (pt) f
• Romanian: plată (ro) f, salariu (ro) n, leafă (ro) f
• Russian: заработная плата (ru) (zárabotnaja pláta) f, зарплата (ru) (zarpláta) f, жалование (ru) (žálovanije) n
• Scottish Gaelic: cosnadh (gd) m, pàigh (gd) m, tuarasdal (gd) m
• Slovak: mzda (sk) f
• Spanish: salario (es) m, sueldo (es) m
• Swedish: lön (sv) c
• Turkish: ücret (tr), gündelik (tr), yevmiye (tr)

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 *waddi, *wadja, possibly through a Vulgar Latin intermediate *wadiare 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 employ for wages; to hire.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book I:

     with the grete goodes we haue goten in these landes by youre yeftes we shalle wage good knyghtes & withstande the kynge Claudas malyce [...].

3. (transitive) To conduct or carry out (a war or other contest).

   to wage war

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

to conduct or carry out

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 發動 (cmn), 发动 (cmn) (fādòng)

• Finnish: ryhtyä (fi)
• French: mener (fr)
• German: führen (de)

• Icelandic: heyja stríð (is) (to wage war), heyja (is)
• Japanese: 行う (ja) (おこなう, okonau)
• Maori: makawe (mi)
• Portuguese: conduzir (pt)
• Russian: вести (ru) (vestí) impf., проводить (ru) (provodít') impf.

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Dutch

Verb

wage

1. singular present subjunctive of wagen

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German

Verb

wage

1. First-person singular present of wagen.
2. First-person singular subjunctive I of wagen.
3. Third-person singular subjunctive I of wagen.
4. Imperative singular of wagen.