change

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʃeɪndʒ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English changen, borrowed from Old French changier (“to change, alter; to exchange”),^[2][3][4] from Latin cambiāre (“to barter, exchange”), a Late Latin extension of cambīre (“to exchange, barter”),^[3][5] which is probably of Celtic, perhaps Gaulish, origin,^[6][5][2] akin to Old Irish camm (“crooked, bent”).^[4][7] Klein and Etymonline trace it to a root meaning “to bend”, the sense passing from “bend” to “turn” to “exchange”.^[7][3] The noun comes from Anglo-Norman chaunge and Old French change, formed from the verb.^[5][8] The same Latin verb is behind exchange.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To alter, make different (before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the early 13th century the verb also meant “to put one thing in place of another”, and by about 1300 it was used intransitively, “to become different”.^[3][10] Changing money into smaller coins or another currency is recorded from 1377,^[10][3] and changing one's clothes from 1470.^[10][3] The noun change was also a place where merchants met to do business (about 1400),^[3][8] and Weekley notes that it was often wrongly written ’change, as if short for the later exchange.^[11] The money left over after paying is called change from the 1620s.^[3] Bell-ringers' changes, any order of ringing other than the scale, gave ring the changes in the 1610s.^[3][11] Other senses are “death” in the King James Bible (1611),^[10][3] “variety, novelty” (1680s, hence for a change),^[3][10] change of heart (1828) and change of life, the menopause (1834).^[3] In American slang change or a piece of change has meant money in general since the 19th century.^[12][13]

Timeline

• before 1200 – to make different (Ancrene Riwle).^[2]
• before 1200 – noun, the act of changing.^[2]
• c. 1230 – to substitute one thing for another.^[10]
• c. 1300 – to become different.^[3]
• 1377 – to give or get money in smaller coins or another currency.^[10]
• c. 1400 – a place where merchants meet.^[3]
• 1470 – to change one's clothes.^[10]
• 1590s – change one's mind.^[3]
• 1610s – bell-ringing changes, and ring the changes.^[3]
• 1620s – the balance of money returned.^[3]
• 1681 – variety, for a change.^[10]
• 1834 – change of life.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make or become different.
2. To replace with another: change one's name.
3. To give and receive in return: change places.
4. To give or get money in smaller units or in another currency.
5. To put on other clothes, or put a fresh covering on: change a bed.
6. To move from one train, bus or aircraft to another.
7. Of the moon, to pass into a new phase.

Noun

1. The act or result of making or becoming different.
2. Something new or different; variety: for a change.
3. Money in coins or smaller units.
4. The money returned when more than the price has been paid.
5. A fresh set of clothes.
6. (bell-ringing) An order in which a set of bells is rung.
7. (the change, informal) The menopause.

Word family

• changer
• changeable
• changeful
• changeling
• changeless
• changeroom

Related words

• exchange
• interchange
• cambium
• gambit

Usage notes

Random House distinguishes change, which makes a thing distinctly different, from alter, which suggests a smaller modification.^[14]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
14. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House