margin

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɑː.d͡ʒɪn/ (UK); /ˈmɑɹ.d͡ʒɪn/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English margine, borrowed from Latin margo (“edge, brink, border”) (genitive marginis),^[2][3][4][5] partly through margin,^[3] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *merg- (“boundary, border”), and related to mark.^[3][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The edge of a sea or lake: the mid-14th century in Etymonline,^[3] probably before 1350 in Barnhart.^[2] The OED's first sense, the part of a surface just within its boundary, is from 1382.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The blank space around the text of a written or printed page is from the late 14th century.^[3] A margin of comfort or allowance, scope for action, is by 1851,^[3][7] and margin of error by 1889.^[3] In finance, money deposited with a broker to cover the risk of loss is from 1848,^[3][7] and in economics the difference between cost and selling price, a profit margin, is a later sense.^[8][9] The verb, to write notes in a margin, is from about 1600 (1607 in Barnhart), and to furnish with a margin from 1715.^[3][2] Marginal meant written in the margin in 1576 and of minor importance from 1887.^[2] The archaic form margent survives in poetry.^[9]

Timeline

• mid-14th century – the edge of a sea or lake.^[3]
• late 14th century – the margin of a page.^[3]
• 1607 – to write in the margin.^[2]
• 1848 – a deposit with a broker.^[3][7]
• 1851 – an allowance or cushion.^[3]
• 1889 – margin of error.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An edge or border and the area just inside it.
2. The blank space around the text on a page.
3. An amount by which something is won or exceeds another: won by a narrow margin.
4. An extra amount allowed for safety or error.
5. (economics) The difference between cost and selling price; profit.
6. (finance) Money deposited with a broker to cover possible losses.

Verb

1. To provide with a margin or border.

Word family

• margined
• remargin
• margin of safety
• margin call
• margin account
• profit margin

Related words

• marginal
• marginalia
• marginalize
• mark
• march
• margent

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins