dividend

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman dividende,^[2][3][4] from Latin dīvidendum (“thing to be divided”), the neuter gerundive of dīvidō (“to divide”).^[5][6][7] Barnhart calls the French form Middle French.^[5] Early English forms were often divident, and the spelling was conformed to the Latin in the 17th century.^[4] The AHD explains dividend as an alteration, influenced by French, of Middle English divident, from dīvidēns, the present participle of the Latin verb;^[8] Barnhart treats divident (before 1425, "a divider") as an earlier, separate borrowing that dividend replaced by the late 1600s.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A portion or share of something divided, 1477, in Thomas Norton's Ordinall of Alchimy.^[4][2] Etymonline dates divident "that which serves as a barrier" to the early 15th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In arithmetic, the number to be divided, it is recorded in 1543 by the OED, in Robert Recorde,^[4] and in 1557 by Barnhart.^[5] In 1623 it named a sum of money to be shared out, such as the profits of a company,^[4][5] and the OED dates a shareholder's individual portion of it to 1690.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a share; the part allotted in division".^[9] A winner's share of a football pool is a dividend from 1929.^[4] Figuratively, it is any extra gain or benefit.^[8]

Timeline

• 1477 – a share or portion.^[4]
• 1535 – the act of dividing (obsolete by 1726).^[4]
• 1543 – the number to be divided (OED); Barnhart has 1557.^[4][5]
• 1623 – a sum to be shared out as profit or interest.^[4][5]
• 1690 – a shareholder's individual share.^[4]
• 1929 – a share of a football pool.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (mathematics) A number or quantity to be divided by another, the divisor.
2. A share of a company's profits paid to its shareholders.
3. A payment to the creditors of a bankrupt.
4. (British) A winner's share of a football pool.
5. An extra or unexpected benefit; a bonus.

Word family

• dividendless
• ex dividend
• cum dividend
• peace dividend

Related words

• divide
• division
• individual

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.