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prize

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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.
  • 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)