tariff

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtæɹɪf/ (UK); /ˈtæɹəf/, /ˈtɛɹəf/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian tariffa (“price, assessment”),^[2][3][4] ultimately from Arabic تَعْرِيف (taʿrīf, “notification, making known”),^[2][3][4] from ʿarafa “to know, make known”.^[2][3] Etymonline also cites Medieval Latin tarifa (“list of prices”), and puts the word among those that passed into English from the commercial jargon of the medieval Mediterranean.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest OED sense is an arithmetical table, such as a multiplication table or ready reckoner,^[5][3] followed a year later by an official list of customs duties.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From a table of import and export duties the word came to mean the duties themselves,^[2][6] and then any schedule of charges, such as a hotel’s or railway’s.^[5][4][6] A verb “to subject to a tariff” appears around 1828.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1591 – an arithmetical table.^[5]
• 1592 – an official schedule of customs duties.^[5][4]
• a1751 – a scale of charges in any business.^[5]
• 1828 – verb.^[5][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A list or system of duties a government imposes on imports or exports.
2. Such a duty, or its rate.
3. A schedule of prices or fees.

Verb

1. To impose a duty or fix a price on.

Word family

• tariffless
• pretariff
• retariff

Related words

• garble

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. [1] [2] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House