allowance

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈlaʊəns/; /əˈlaʊɪns/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English allowaunce, borrowed from Middle French alouance (“sanction, granting, allocation”),^[2][3][4] from alouer (“to allot, assign; to approve”) (see allow).^[2][4] Like allow, it combines senses of two different French words, one meaning to praise or approve and one to place or grant.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Praise, a sense now obsolete: 1377 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

A sum allotted to meet expenses is from about 1400,^[2] and a sum allowed in an account from 1393.^[5] Approval or sanction is from the 1550s,^[2][5] and permission or tolerance from 1628.^[5] To make allowances was first to add or deduct a sum for special circumstances; its figurative use is from the 1670s.^[2] The engineering sense, a permitted deviation from a standard, is from 1903.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates a sense to 1758, and the verb, to put on a fixed allowance, is from 1839.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1377 – praise (obsolete).^[5]
• 1393 – a sum allowed in account.^[5]
• c. 1400 – money for expenses.^[2]
• 1550s – approval.^[2]
• 1670s – make allowances (figurative).^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An amount of money or goods given regularly or for a particular purpose: a weekly allowance.
2. An amount allowed or permitted: a baggage allowance.
3. (British) An amount of income not subject to tax.
4. Make allowances: to take something into account or treat someone leniently.

Related words

• allow
• allot
• allocate

Usage notes

In Scots and several English dialects an allowance was a small portion of food or drink given to workmen between meals;^[6] in Ulster it meant permission.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)