reward

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɪˈwɔːd/, US /rɪˈwɔːrd/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English rewarden, borrowed from Anglo-Norman rewarder (“to regard, reward”), Old North French rewarder, a variant of Old French reguarder, regarder “to take notice of, watch over”,^[2][3][4][5] from re-, here perhaps intensive, and warder “to look, heed, watch”,^[2][5] from a Germanic source, Frankish or another, from Proto-Germanic *wardōną (“to guard”),^[2] from the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to perceive, watch out for”).^[2] The noun is from Anglo-French and Old North French reward, from the verb.^[3][2] Reward is thus a doublet of regard.^[3][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, to grant or bestow: probably before 1300 in Barnhart, about 1300 in Etymonline.^[3][2] The noun first meant regard or consideration, before 1338, in Mannyng's Chronicle.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th and 15th centuries reward was used in the senses now given to regard: to look at, care about, consider, and as a noun, notice, heed and esteem.^[2][8] It meant any requital, good or bad, for service or for evil-doing.^[2] To give as a prize or compensation is from the early 14th century, and to recompense from about 1350.^[2][3] As a noun, what one deserves is from the mid-14th century, and something given in return for a thing done from 1371 in Barnhart, the late 14th century in Etymonline, when it could also mean punishment.^[2][3] Money offered for the capture of a criminal or the return of lost property is from the 1590s;^[2][6] Word Origins sees the notion of payment as a way of showing one's regard.^[6] In northern and Yorkshire dialect reward meant to repay a loan.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to grant, bestow.^[2][3]
• before 1338 – the noun, regard.^[3][7]
• c. 1350 – to recompense.^[3]
• 1371 – a recompense.^[3]
• 1590s – money offered for a criminal's capture.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Something given in return for good work, service or behaviour.
2. A sum of money offered for information about a criminal or for the return of lost property.
3. A satisfying result or benefit: the rewards of teaching.
4. (psychology) A pleasant stimulus that strengthens a response.

Verb

1. To give a reward to someone, or for something done.
2. To be worth doing or experiencing; to gratify.

Word family

• rewardable
• rewarder
• rewardableness
• rewardably
• rewardless
• superreward
• misreward
• overreward

Related words

• award
• regard
• guard
• ward
• warden
• beware

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 f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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)