Etymologically
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pension

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 08:52. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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