merger

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈmɜː.dʒə/, US /ˈmɝː.dʒɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is from merge, on the analogy of Anglo-French infinitives used as nouns, such as waiver.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, the extinguishing of a right or estate by its absorption into a greater one: 1728.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The general sense, an act of merging, is from 1881.^[5] The business sense, the combination of one firm with another, is from 1889, at first American.^[2][5] A separate merger, one who merges, is from 1846.^[5]

Timeline

• 1728 – a legal merger.^[2][5]
• 1846 – one who merges.^[5]
• 1881 – an act of merging.^[5]
• 1889 – a business merger.^[2][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The combining of two or more companies or organizations into one.
2. The act of merging; a union.
3. (law) The absorption of a lesser estate, right or offence into a greater one.

Word family

• megamerger
• demerger
• premerger
• antimerger

Related words

• merge
• emerge
• submerge
• waiver

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press