jeopardize

Etymology

It is formed from English jeopardy + -ize,^[2][3][4] or, in the OED's view, from the older verb jeopard with the same suffix.^[5][6] That verb, recorded from about 1374 in Chaucer's “Troilus and Criseyde”,^[5] is a back-formation from the noun.^[2] The noun, Middle English iuparti or jupartie, comes from Old French iu parti (“divided game, even game”), later ieu parti, originally a term of chess and similar games, hence an uncertain chance.^[5][2] Its parts are jeu (“game”), from Latin iocus (“jest”), and parti (“divided”), the past participle of partir (“to divide”).^[2] The OED thinks the change of “-parti” to “-pardy” was mainly a sound change, perhaps helped by French perdre (“to lose”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To put into jeopardy: 1646, in Barnet's Regenerate Mans Growth in Grace.^[5] Etymonline dates it to the 1640s and Dictionary.com to 1640–50,^[2][4] but Merriam-Webster's Unabridged gives 1582 as its first known use.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Middle English had the simple verb jeopard, to put in danger or to risk, from about 1374, often in the alliterative phrase to jeopard a joint;^[5][2] it was also used with an infinitive, to risk doing something (1456–1554), and for to venture oneself (1430–1598).^[5] The OED defines jeopardize simply as "to jeopard".^[5] The participle jeopardized, exposed to risk, is recorded from 1864.^[7] Johnson wrongly called the noun jeopardy a word no longer in use; the OED notes that it was in continuous use in the 18th century.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – jeopard, to put in jeopardy, to risk.^[5]
• 1646 – jeopardize, to put into jeopardy.^[5] Merriam-Webster's Unabridged dates the verb to 1582.^[3]
• 1864 – jeopardized, exposed to risk.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put in danger of loss, harm or failure; to imperil or endanger: Skipping the safety checks could jeopardize the whole launch.^[3][8][6]
2. To risk or hazard something one has: She jeopardized her place on the team by missing training.^[8]

Word family

• unjeopardized

Related words

• jeopardy
• jeopard
• joke
• part

Usage notes

The spelling jeopardise is chiefly British.^[3][4] Collins and the Shorter Oxford give both spellings.^[8][6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins