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wager

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Etymology and origin of the English word wager

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1303 Robert Mannyng, ''Handlyng Synne''
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman wageure via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *wadi-

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈweɪ.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/[1]
  • US: /ˈweɪ.d͡ʒɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wageour, also wager,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman wageure (“pledge, security”),[4][5][6][3] from Old Northern French wagier (“to pledge”),[6][3][2] with the suffix that became -ure.[4][7] In Old French it was gagiere, now French gageure.[5][3] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the mid-12th century, already meaning a wager or bet.[8] The verb is from wage (“pledge, pay”), the source of wage,[5][6] which is of Germanic origin,[6] from Frankish *wadja- or another Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *wadi-;[5] it is a doublet of gage.[5] The legal phrases wager of battle and wager of law were probably at first a separate formation, the English verb with the suffix -er, made by 16th-century lawyers after Law French infinitives used as nouns.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something, especially a sum of money, staked on an uncertain event: 1303, in Robert Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.[4][3] The sense "a solemn pledge or undertaking" is recorded in 1306 and only in Middle English.[4][9][5]

Semantic evolution

The word moved from a pledge in general to a stake laid on an uncertain outcome.[4][5] From about 1450 to 1667 it could also be the prize in a contest;[4] from 1548 it also meant the agreement to pay according to the outcome, a bet.[4] The wager of battle, a defendant's challenge to settle his guilt by single combat, and the wager of law, an oath of innocence supported by eleven compurgators, are legal uses now only historical.[4][10] The verb, formed from the noun, first meant to contend for a prize (1574);[4][3] the sense "to bet" appears in Shakespeare, in Hamlet (1604) and Cymbeline (before 1616).[4][3] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as a bet, anything pledged on a chance or performance.[11]

Timeline

  • 1303 – a stake laid on an uncertain event.[4][3]
  • 1306 – a solemn pledge (obsolete).[4]
  • c. 1450 – the prize in a contest (obsolete by 1667).[4]
  • 1521 – wager of law.[4]
  • 1548 – a bet, an agreement on an uncertain issue.[4]
  • 1574 – verb, to contend for a prize (obsolete).[4][3]
  • 1604 – verb, to make a bet, in Hamlet.[4]
  • before 1616 – verb, to stake something, in Cymbeline.[4]
  • before 1625 – wager of battle.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An agreement to pay money or something of value depending on how an uncertain matter turns out; a bet: They made a wager on the election.[10][2][4]
  2. The sum or thing staked on such an outcome: She lost her wager of ten pounds.[10][2][4]
  3. (historical) wager of battle: a pledge to settle a case by single combat.[10][4]
  4. (historical) wager of law: a form of trial in which the accused swore to his innocence, backed by the oaths of eleven neighbours.[10][4]
  5. (obsolete, c. 1450–1667) The prize to be won in a contest.[4][2]

Verb

  1. To risk money or something of value on an uncertain outcome; to gamble: He wagered his watch on the horse.[2][4]
  2. To make a bet, or to state confidently that something is so: I'd wager she arrives late.[2][4][9]

Word family

  • wagerer
  • rewager

Usage notes

Two minor words of the same spelling have separate sources: a Scots wager, a hired soldier (about 1420 to 1596), formed from the noun wage with -er,[4] and wager, one who wages war (1611).[4][2]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ a b 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Wager.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/wager. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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