advantage

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ədˈvɑːn.tɪdʒ/, US /ədˈvæn.tɪdʒ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English avauntage,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French avantage (“advantage, profit, superiority”),^[2][4] from avant (“before”) and the suffix -age,^[4][5] probably through an unrecorded Late Latin *abantāticum,^[2] from Late Latin abante (“from before”),^[4][2] from ab (“from”) and ante (“before”).^[2] The -d- was added in the 16th century, as if the word began with Latin ad-.^[2][4][3] It is related to advance, and vantage is a shortening of it.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The position of being ahead of another, superiority: about 1300 in Barnhart^[4] and the early 14th century in Etymonline;^[2] the OED's first example is from 1330.^[6]

Semantic evolution

A favourable place, especially high ground, is from 1386,^[6] and a favourable occasion or opportunity from about 1386; both are obsolete.^[6] Take advantage of, “to avail oneself of” and also “to impose upon”, is from the late 14th century.^[2] A circumstance favourable to success is from the late 15th century,^[2] or 1483 in the OED.^[6] Have the advantage of, “to be superior to”, is from the 1560s.^[2] The tennis score after deuce is from the 1640s, in Milton.^[2][6] The spelling advantage was settled in the late 1500s.^[4] The verb is from the 15th century,^[5][7] and advantageous from 1598.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – superiority, being ahead.^[4]
• 1386 – a vantage point.^[6]
• late 14th century – take advantage of.^[2]
• 1483 – a favourable circumstance.^[6]
• late 16th century – the spelling with d.^[4]
• 1598 – advantageous.^[4]
• 1640s – in tennis.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A circumstance or condition that puts one in a favourable position.
2. Benefit or profit: to one's advantage.
3. (tennis) The first point won after deuce.

Verb

1. To be of benefit to; to give an advantage to.

Word family

• advantageous
• mechanical advantage

Related words

• advance
• vantage
• avant-garde
• ante-

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press