Etymologically
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change

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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
  • 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