surcharge

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English surchargen,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman surcharger, a variant of sorchargier,^[2][6] also Middle French surcharger,^[3][4] from sur- (“over, above”) and chargier (“to load”), the source of charge.^[7][3][8][9] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the early 13th century, already meaning to overload, to burden with expense, to overcharge and to overstock a pasture.^[6] The OED compares sobrecargar, sobrecargar, sopraccaricare and sobrecarregar.^[10] The noun is from the verb,^[9][3][11] or partly borrowed from French surcharge, recorded in French from the 16th century.^[10] Barnhart notes that the Middle French noun is attested only from about 1500.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To overcharge, or to subject a person to an additional tax or payment: 1429, in the Rolls of Parliament.^[10][3] Etymonline gives the early 15th century and the sense "to charge too much expense".^[7] The MED's quotations include one from about 1475 on the poor commons being "often surcharged grevouslie".^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb already covered financial overburdening, the levying of an extra payment and, in law, grazing more animals on a common pasture than one had a right to (1480).^[2][10] The physical sense, to overload or weigh down, is recorded from 1582, and figurative senses, to overwhelm with sorrow or to burden, from 1566 and 1592.^[10][7] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as an overburden, more than can well be borne, quoting Bacon.^[12] Accountancy gave the verb the sense of showing an omission in an account (1754), and British local government the sense of charging an official with money improperly paid (1885).^[10][4] The noun's senses run parallel: an excessive or extra load (late 15th century in the Shorter Oxford, 1603 in the OED),^[9][10][13] an extra or excessive payment (1601),^[10] and in philately an overprint changing a stamp's value (1881), a sense the verb has had since 1870.^[10] Etymonline dates the now usual sense of making an extra charge to 1885.^[7]

Timeline

• 1429 – verb, to overcharge, to subject to an additional tax or payment.^[10][3]
• 1480 – verb, in law, to overstock a common with cattle.^[10][2]
• 1569 – noun, the overstocking of a common.^[10]
• 1582 – verb, to overload with a physical burden.^[10][7]
• 1601 – noun, a payment beyond the usual or just amount.^[10]
• 1603 – noun, an extra or excessive load or burden.^[10]
• 1754 – verb, to show an omission in an account.^[10]
• 1870 – verb, to overprint a postage stamp.^[10]
• 1881 – noun, an overprint on a stamp changing its value.^[10]
• 1885 – verb, to make an official repay an amount improperly spent.^[10][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An extra charge added to the usual payment, price or tax: The airline added a fuel surcharge to every ticket.^[14][4][10]
2. An excessive sum charged, especially an unlawful one.^[14][10]
3. An extra or excessive load, burden or supply.^[14][4][10]
4. An overprint on a postage stamp that changes its face value.^[14][10]
5. (law) The act of surcharging an account, or a statement showing an omission in it.^[14][4][10]

Verb

1. To charge an additional sum, fee or tax: The hotel surcharges guests who check out late.^[14][4][10]
2. To overcharge a person.^[14][4][10]
3. To put an extra physical burden on; to overload.^[14][10]
4. To fill to excess.^[14][10]
5. To overprint a postage stamp with a surcharge.^[14][10]
6. (law) To show an omission in an account for which credit should have been given.^[4][10]

Word family

• surcharger

Related words

• supercharge
• charge
• overcharge
• supercargo

Usage notes

An obsolete noun surcharge, an additional dish or course at a meal (1489–1622), was a different formation: the OED takes it as sub-charge or sucharge with the prefix replaced by sur-.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ 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 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins