Etymologically
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advantage

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:24. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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