prize

English has three words spelled prize, all from Old French: “a reward”, a variant of price, with the verb “to value”, then “something captured”, from prise “a taking”, and “a lever”, from the same prise.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /praɪz/^[4]

prize¹ reward

Etymology

The noun is a spelling of Middle English pris, prise,^[1][5][3] borrowed from Old French pris (“price, value, worth; reward”),^[5] from Latin pretium (“price, value”);^[3] the spelling with z, which separated it from price, is from the late 16th century.^[5][1] The verb, “to value”, is inherited from Middle English prisen (“to value, esteem, praise”),^[1][5] from Old French pris-, the stressed stem of preisier “to praise, appraise”,^[2][5][6] from Late Latin pretiare, from pretium.^[3] It is related to praise and precious.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A reward or symbol of victory in a contest: before 1300 in the OED,^[7] about 1300 in Etymonline, as prise.^[5] The spelling prize is from 1593, in Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI.^[1] The verb, to value, is probably from about 1380, and prize from 1586.^[1][5]

Semantic evolution

A sum of money or a thing offered in a lottery or game of chance is from 1567.^[7] Anything worth striving for is from about 1600,^[5] 1606 in the OED.^[7] A school or college prize is from 1752.^[7] A prize was also a contest or match, especially a public fencing match, from the 16th century, which survives in prizefighter;^[8][7] prize-fighter is from 1703 and prize-fight from 1730.^[5] The adjective, worthy of a prize, is from 1803.^[1][5]

Timeline

• a. 1300 – a reward.^[7]
• c. 1380 – verb, to value.^[1]
• 1567 – a lottery prize.^[7]
• 1586 – the spelling prize, for the verb.^[1]
• 1593 – the spelling prize, for the noun.^[1]
• 1606 – anything worth striving for.^[7]
• 1703 – prize-fighter.^[5]
• 1752 – a school prize.^[7]
• 1803 – adjective.^[1][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something offered or won as a reward for winning a contest or competition.
2. Something worth striving for; a highly valued possession.

Adjective

1. Given or offered as a prize, or having won one.
2. Outstanding of its kind: a prize pumpkin.

Verb

1. To value highly; to treasure.
2. To estimate the worth of.

Word family

• prizewinner
• prizefighter
• prized

prize² capture

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English prise (“a taking, holding”),^[5][1] borrowed from Old French prise (“a taking, seizing, holding”),^[5][1][2] the noun use of the feminine past participle of prendre “to take, seize”,^[5][3] from Latin prēndere, a contraction of prehendere “to lay hold of, grasp”,^[5][1] from prae- “before” and -hendere, from Proto-Indo-European *ghend- (“to seize, take”).^[5] Its spelling with z, from the late 16th century, made it identical with the other prize.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A taking or holding: the mid-13th century in Etymonline,^[5] about 1250 in Barnhart.^[1] The spelling prize is from 1596, in Spenser's Faerie Queene.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Booty is from the 14th century,^[2] and a ship captured at sea, especially lawfully in war, from the 1510s,^[5][2] the 16th century in Hoad.^[2] The verb, to seize a ship as a prize, is now rare.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – a taking.^[1]
• 14th century – booty.^[2]
• 1510s – a captured ship.^[5]
• 1596 – the spelling prize.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Property, especially an enemy ship, captured in war.
2. Something taken by force; booty.

prize³ lever

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English prise (“instrument for prying, lever”),^[1] borrowed from Old French prise (“a taking hold, grasp”), the same word as prize “capture”.^[1][2][5] The verb is from the noun.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A lever, an instrument for prying: about 1400 in Barnhart,^[1] the 14th century in Etymonline and Hoad.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The verb, “to force open or raise with a lever”, is from 1686 in Barnhart,^[1] the 1680s in Etymonline,^[5] the 17th century in Hoad.^[2] Leverage is first recorded in 1835.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – a lever.^[1]
• 1686 – verb, to pry.^[1]
• 1835 – leverage.^[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To move or force open with a lever; to pry.

Noun

1. A lever, or the leverage it gives.

Related words

• price
• praise
• precious
• prise
• prehensile
• apprehend

Usage notes

In Dorset dialect to prize was to wince or show that one felt pain.^[9]

References

1. ^ 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 27 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)