Etymologically
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claim

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kleɪm/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cleimen, claymen,[2] borrowed from Old French claim-, the stressed stem of clamer “to call, name, appeal, claim, complain”,[3][4][2] from Latin clāmāre (“to cry out, shout, proclaim”),[3][2] akin to Latin calāre “to call”.[5] Etymonline takes clāmāre to Proto-Indo-European *kele- (“to shout”),[3] and Merriam-Webster relates it to English low, “to moo”.[5][2] The noun is inherited from Middle English claime, from Old French claime, from clamer.[2][5] The same Latin verb gave acclaim, reclaim and clamour.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb, “to demand as one's own or one's due”, is from probably about 1300,[2][3] and the OED has the related sense of asserting a right before 1300;[7] the noun, “a demand of a right”, is from before 1325, in Cursor Mundi.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

A right or title to something is from about 1330.[7] A thing claimed is from 1792, especially a piece of land allotted and taken by a miner or settler in the United States and Australia;[3][7] claim-jumper is attested from 1839.[3] The insurance sense, an application for compensation, is from 1878, and the verb “to make an insurance claim” from 1897.[3][7] The meaning “to assert as true, maintain” is from 1864,[3][7] chiefly American at first; the Century Dictionary in 1895 called it common but regarded by many as inelegant.[3] Claimant is from 1747, at first a legal term on the model of appellant and defendant.[2][4]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – to assert a right.[7]
  • c. 1300 – to demand as one's due.[2][3]
  • before 1325 – noun, a demand of a right.[2]
  • c. 1330 – a right or title.[7]
  • 1747 – claimant.[2]
  • 1792 – a thing claimed; a mining claim.[3][7]
  • 1864 – to assert, maintain.[3][7]
  • 1878 – an insurance claim.[3][7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To demand or ask for as one's own or one's due.
  2. To state to be true, especially when it may be doubted; to assert.
  3. To call for; to deserve or require: the matter claims our attention.
  4. To take, especially by violence: the flood claimed many lives.
  5. To make a demand for payment under an insurance policy.

Noun

  1. A demand for something as rightful or due.
  2. A right or title to something.
  3. A statement that something is true, which may be challenged.
  4. Something claimed, especially a piece of land staked out by a miner.
  5. A demand for payment under an insurance policy.

Word family

  • claimable
  • claimer
  • claimless
  • counterclaim
  • misclaim
  • overclaim
  • reclaim
  • claimant
  • disclaim
  • disclaimer
  • clamor
  • acclaim
  • exclaim
  • proclaim
  • declaim
  • clear

Usage notes

Claim in the sense “to assert” was long criticized,[3] and the Century Dictionary held that the word should not stray far from its true meaning of demanding recognition of a right.[3] Among near synonyms, a title is a claim with legal backing, while a pretension or pretense may be a claim with little ground.[8] In south Worcestershire to claim someone was to greet them as an acquaintance.[9]

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