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Etymology and origin of the French word charge

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1130, Voyage de Charlemagne
Ultimate origin
Latin carrus

Pronunciation

Forms

charge f (plural charges)[1] Old French carge (about 1130), then charge (1170).[2][3] Northern texts have kierke (1226) and quierque (about 1225).[4] Anglo-Norman spellings include carke, charche and chearge.[5]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun formed from charger.[4][2][6][7][1] The verb goes back to Late Latin carricō (“to load”), syncopated to carcō, from carrus (“wagon”), so that it first meant putting something into a wagon.[3][8] The Latin noun is also the source of char.[3]

Cognate with Italian carica, Occitan carga, Spanish carga and Portuguese carga.[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as carge in the Voyage de Charlemagne (about 1130), for what weighs on or is carried by a person, an animal, a vehicle or a ship.[4][3] In the Quatre livres des Rois (about 1170) David tells Hushai tu m'iers à charge “you will be a burden to me”, the first record of être à charge.[10][4]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense spread to measures of goods (1268, Livre des métiers), to the powder put into a firearm (1564, Paré) and to the loading of a ship (1690, Furetière).[4] In electricity the action of charging is recorded in a translation of Franklin (1752), and, from it the quantity of electricity in a body, with charge positive and charge négative.[3]

The figurative sense of a burden led to “dues, tax” (1226), “office, task” (about 1225) and, in law, a public responsibility (1580, Montaigne) and a fact weighing against an accused person (1437, Charles d'Orléans), whence témoin à charge.[4][3] In the arts a charge was an exaggeration (1675) and then a caricature (1680, Richelet), with the literary genre named in the Encyclopédie (1753) and phrases such as portrait-charge.[4][3]

As a noun of action the word is chiefly military: it is an attack (about 1540, Herberay des Essarts), from the verb charger “to attack”, and Furetière records revenir à la charge figuratively in 1690.[4][3] The anglicism être en charge de “to be responsible for” is usual in Quebec French and is spreading in administrative and business French in Europe.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1130 – Carge in the Voyage de Charlemagne.[4]
  • c. 1170 – Estre a charge “to be a burden”.[4]
  • c. 1225 – Quierque “office, task”.[4]
  • 1226 – Kierke “dues” in a charter of the Countess of Flanders.[4]
  • 1437 – The legal sense of a fact weighing against an accused.[4][3]
  • c. 1540 – A military attack.[4]
  • 1564 – A charge of gunpowder, in Paré.[4]
  • 1580 – A public office, in Montaigne.[4]
  • 1680 – Richelet records the sense “caricature”.[4]
  • 1690 – Furetière records revenir à la charge.[4]
  • 1752 – The electrical sense, in a translation of Franklin.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A load, what a person, animal or vehicle carries: bête de charge, charge utile, payload.[11][1]
  2. The cargo of a ship; the loading of a ship.[11][1]
  3. (technical) The weight borne by part of a structure.[11]
  4. The quantity of powder or explosive put into a firearm or a mine.[11][4]
  5. (physics) An electric charge; the charging of a battery.[11][1]
  6. A burden, something troublesome: être à charge à quelqu'un.[11][4]
  7. An expense; in the plural, costs, especially the running costs of a flat or building: charges comprises.[11][1]
  8. À charge: dependent: deux enfants à charge, prendre en charge, to take responsibility for.[11][1]
  9. (law) An obligation attached to a contract or gift: cahier des charges.[11][1]
  10. An office or post, especially a public one: une charge de notaire.[11][3]
  11. (law) Evidence or a charge against an accused person: témoin à charge.[3][1]
  12. (military) A charge, an attack: sonner la charge, revenir à la charge, to try again.[4][1]
  13. A caricature, comic exaggeration.[1][4]
  14. (heraldry) A figure on a shield.[1]

Word family

  • chargement
  • chargeur
  • recharger
  • surcharge
  • décharge

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 416a
  8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
Cite this entry

“Charge.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/charge. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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