pension

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɛnʃən/; /ˈpɪnʃən/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English pencioun, borrowed from Old French pension (“payment, rent”) and directly pēnsio (“payment, instalment, rent”),^[2][3][4] from pendere (“to weigh, pay”) (see pendant).^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fixed payment out of the revenues of a benefice: 1316 in the OED, the early 14th century in Anglo-Latin;^[6][3] a reward or payment, before 1376, in Piers Plowman, in Barnhart.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins notes that a pension was at first a payment, a tax, or a regular sum paid to keep someone's loyalty.^[5] A tax is from before 1387,^[2][6] a salary from 1362–1413,^[6][2] and a payment to royal favourites from about 1500.^[6] A regular payment for past services is from the 1520s, and to persons retired because of age or disability, originally soldiers and sailors, follows.^[3][6][5] A boarding house or boarding school on the Continent, from French, is from the 1640s and is pronounced as in French.^[3][7] The verb, to grant a pension, is from 1702, and pension off later.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1316 – a payment from a benefice.^[6]
• before 1387 – a tax.^[2]
• 1520s – a payment for past service.^[3]
• 1640s – a boarding house.^[3]
• 1702 – the verb.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A regular payment made to a person after retirement, by the state, an employer or a fund.
2. A regular payment made because of disability or widowhood.
3. A boarding house or small hotel in Europe.

Verb

1. pension off: to retire someone with a pension; to get rid of as no longer useful.

Word family

• pensionable
• pensionless
• pensionably
• pensionary
• pensioner
• pension plan
• pension fund

Related words

• pendant
• stipend
• compensate
• pound

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins