match

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mætʃ/^[1]

match¹ equal, contest

Etymology

The equal is inherited from Middle English macche, inherited from Old English mæcca, gemæcca (“companion, mate, spouse; an equal”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *gamakjô,^[3][5] “fitting well together”,^[2] related to Old English gemaca (“companion”) and macian (“to make”).^[4][6][7] Its cognates include Old Saxon gimako (“fellow, equal”) and Old High German gimah (“comfort, ease”),^[2][7] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, fashion, fit”).^[2] It is related to make and mate.^[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A husband or wife, a mate: Old English gemæcca, before 971,^[3] or before 831.^[9] One's equal or companion is from about 975.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English macche meant one's spouse about 1200, in the Ormulum, and one's equal about 1300.^[3] A person able to contend with another, an adequate opponent, is from about 1300,^[2][9] which led to the sporting sense “contest”, from the 1540s^[2] or the early 16th century.^[8] A person or thing that exactly corresponds to another is from about 1400.^[2] A marriage, as in a good match, is from the 1570s.^[2] The verb meant “to be an adequate opponent for” in the mid-14th century, and “to join, especially in marriage” in the late 14th.^[2] “To make agree or harmonize” is from the 1520s, and “to be equal to” from the 1590s.^[2]

Timeline

• before 971 – Old English gemæcca, mate.^[3]
• c. 1300 – an equal; an opponent.^[3][2]
• mid-14th century – verb, to rival.^[2]
• c. 1400 – a counterpart.^[2]
• 1520s – verb, to harmonize.^[2]
• 1540s – a contest.^[2]
• 1570s – a marriage.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A contest or game between opponents.
2. A person or thing able to compete equally with another.
3. A person or thing exactly like or harmonizing with another; a pair that go well together.
4. A marriage; a person seen as a prospective partner.

Verb

1. To be exactly like; to correspond to.
2. To harmonize with; to find or provide a counterpart for.
3. To be equal to; to put in competition with.

Word family

• matcher
• matching
• matchless
• matchmaker
• mismatch
• match point
• rematch

match² lighter

Etymology

The lighter is inherited from Middle English macche (“wick of a candle or lamp”),^[2][3] borrowed from Old French meiche (“wick of a candle”), modern mèche,^[2][3][6] from Vulgar Latin *micca, *miccia, of uncertain origin,^[2][10] probably from Latin myxa (“nozzle of a lamp; lamp wick”), from Ancient Greek μύξα (múxa, “mucus, lamp wick”),^[2][10][11] the image being of a wick dangling from the spout like mucus from a nostril.^[2] Klein takes the Vulgar Latin word as a blend of myxa with another word.^[7] Spanish mecha and Italian miccia are cognates.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The wick of a candle or lamp: about 1378, in a version of Piers Plowman,^[3] or 1377,^[9] a sense now obsolete.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The modern spelling is from the mid-15th century.^[2] A cord or wick for firing a gun is from 1549,^[9][4] and a piece of cord or wood dipped in sulphur, used to light fires or candles, from 1530.^[9][2] The modern friction match, tipped with a substance that ignites when struck, is so called from 1831^[9] or by 1830, and competed for much of the 19th century with lucifer.^[2] Matchbook is from the 20th century.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1378 – a wick (Piers Plowman).^[3]
• 1530 – a sulphured splint for lighting.^[9][2]
• 1549 – a fuse for a gun.^[9]
• 1831 – a friction match.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A short, thin piece of wood or cardboard with a tip that ignites when struck.
2. (historical) A slow-burning cord or wick once used to fire guns.

Word family

• matchbox
• matchstick
• matchbook
• matchlock
• matchwood

Related words

• make
• mate
• mucus
• lucifer

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 d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e 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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster