Etymologically
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gain

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɡeɪn/[1]

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English gayne,[2] borrowed from Middle French gain, from Old French gaaigne “gain, profit; booty; arable land”,[3][4] from gaaignier (“to earn, gain; to cultivate land”),[4][3] from *waidanjan (“to hunt, forage, pasture”),[3][4] from Proto-Germanic *waithanjan “to hunt, plunder”.[3] It is cognate with Old High German weida “pasture” and weidenōn “to hunt”, Old English wāþ “hunting” and Old Norse veiðr “hunt”,[4][3][2] from Proto-Indo-European *weie- (“to go after, pursue”).[3] The earliest noun was partly from Old Norse.[3] The verb is from French gagner, Old French gaaignier.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Advantage, benefit, help: about 1200.[3][6] Booty or prey is from 1473,[4][6] and gainage, profit from farming, is before 1393, in Gower.[4]

Semantic evolution

Reward, profit, what has been acquired, is from about 1300,[3] and increase of possessions from 1496–7.[6] The French word joined the ideas of profit from farming and of booty.[3] Gains, sums acquired by trade, is from 1546.[6] The verb meant “to obtain as profit” from the 1520s,[3] “to obtain by effort” from the 1540s[3] and “to make a profit” from the 1570s.[3] Gain ground (1620s) was at first military, of land taken from an enemy.[3][7] “To arrive at” is from about 1600,[3] gain on, “to get nearer”, from 1719,[3] and of clocks, “to run fast”, by 1861.[3] Any increase, as in weight, is by 1851,[3][6] and in electronics an increase in power from 1922.[6] No pain, no gain is recorded from the mid-19th century, and became an exercise slogan in the 1990s.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – advantage, benefit.[3][6]
  • c. 1300 – profit, reward.[3]
  • 1473 – booty.[4][6]
  • 1520s – verb, to obtain as profit.[3]
  • 1620s – gain ground.[3]
  • 1719 – gain on.[3]
  • 1851 – an increase in amount.[3][6]
  • 1922 – in electronics.[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To get possession of; to acquire.
  2. To win or achieve through effort.
  3. To get an increase of: gain weight.
  4. To reach: gain the summit.
  5. To get closer to someone ahead: gaining on them.
  6. Of a clock, to run fast.

Noun

  1. Something gained; a profit or advantage.
  2. An increase in amount or degree.
  3. (electronics) An increase in power or signal strength.

Word family

  • gainer
  • gainable
  • outgain
  • ungained
  • gainful
  • gainless
  • gainly
  • brain gain

Usage notes

In Scottish and northern English dialect gain is also an adjective, “near, direct, convenient”, from Old Norse gegn, the source of again.[8][2]

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y 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. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ 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)