benefit

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈben.ɪ.fɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English benfet, later benefet, benefit,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman benfet, Old French bienfait,^[4][2] and directly from Latin benefactum (“good deed”),^[4][2] from bene facere (“to do good”),^[4][5] from bene (“well”) and facere (“to do”),^[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *dhe- (“to set, put”).^[4] The spelling with -e- in the middle was influenced by Latin bene.^[3] The verb is from the noun.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A good deed: before 1376, in Piers Plowman,^[2] 1377 in the OED.^[6]

Semantic evolution

“A kind deed, a favour” is also from 1377.^[6] The ordinary sense “advantage, profit” is from 1393,^[6] the 15th century in Hoad.^[7] Benefit of clergy, the privilege of the clergy to be exempt from the secular courts, is from 1488–9.^[6] A theatrical performance whose takings go to a particular actor or cause is from 1629, the 1680s in Etymonline.^[6][4] Money paid under insurance or a public scheme is a later sense.^[8] Benefit of the doubt is recorded from the mid-19th century.^[9] The verb, “to do good to”, is from 1472 in Barnhart^[2] and 1549 in the OED,^[6] and “to gain advantage” from 1613.^[6] In northern English dialect a benefit was a church living.^[10]

Timeline

• before 1376 – a good deed.^[2]
• 1393 – advantage, profit.^[6]
• 1472 – verb, to do good to.^[2]
• 1488–9 – benefit of clergy.^[6]
• 1613 – verb, to gain advantage.^[6]
• 1629 – a benefit performance.^[6]
• mid-19th century – benefit of the doubt.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something that improves well-being; an advantage.
2. Help, aid: for the benefit of all.
3. A payment or service provided under an insurance policy, employment contract or state scheme.
4. A performance or event held to raise money for a cause or person.

Verb

1. To be helpful or useful to.
2. To gain an advantage; to profit.

Word family

• benefiter
• beneficial
• unbenefited
• unbenefiting
• disbenefit
• risk-benefit
• benefit of clergy
• benefit society

Related words

• benefactor
• beneficence
• beneficent
• beneficiary
• benefice
• fact
• bonus

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ 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)