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damage

Etymology and origin of the English word damage

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1292
Borrowed from
Old French damage via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (damnum)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈdæm.ɪdʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English damage,[2] borrowed from Old French damage (“loss caused by injury”), domage (modern dommage),[3][4] from dam, damme “loss, damage”,[3][5] from Latin damnum (“loss, hurt, damage, fine”),[3][4][2] the source of damn, with the suffix -age.[4][5] The verb is from Old French damagier, from the noun.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Loss or detriment caused by injury: 1292,[6] probably before 1300 in Arthour and Merlin,[4] about 1300 in Etymonline.[3] The verb is from about 1330.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Physical injury to a thing, reducing its value or usefulness, is from about 1374.[6] In law, damages, the money value of what was lost, is from about 1400 (1430 in the OED).[3][6] In the 14th and 15th centuries a damage could also be a misfortune, a pity.[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as “mischief; hurt; detriment”.[7] The colloquial sense “cost, expense”, as in what's the damage?, is by 1755.[3][6] Damage control is US Navy jargon by 1933.[3]

Timeline

  • 1292 – loss caused by injury.[6]
  • c. 1330 – verb, to damage.[4]
  • c. 1374 – physical injury to a thing.[6]
  • c. 1400 – damages in law.[3]
  • 1755 – cost, expense.[3][6]
  • 1933 – damage control.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Physical harm that reduces the value, usefulness or normal function of something.
  2. Harmful effects: damage to his reputation.
  3. damages: Money awarded by a court as compensation for loss or injury.
  4. (informal) The cost: what's the damage?

Verb

  1. To harm or spoil; to injure.

Word family

  • damageability
  • damageable
  • damagingly
  • damager
  • damageableness
  • predamage
  • undamaged
  • redamage
  • damn
  • indemnity
  • condemn
  • damnation

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Damage.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/damage. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·