gain
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English gayn, gain, gein (“profit, advantage”), from Old Norse gagn (“benefit, advantage, use”), from Proto-Germanic *gagną, *gaganą (“gain, profit", literally "return”), from Proto-Germanic *gagana (“back, against, in return”), a reduplication of Proto-Germanic *ga- (“with, together”), from Proto-Indo-European *kom (“next to, at, with, along”). Cognate with Icelandic gagn (“gain, advantage, use”), Swedish gagn (“benefit, profit”), Danish gavn (“gain, profit, success”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌴𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (gageigan, “to gain, profit”), Old Norse gegn (“ready”), (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Swedish dialectal gen (“useful, noteful”), Latin cum (“with”); see gain-, again, against. Compare also Middle English gaynen, geinen (“to be of use, profit, avail”), (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Icelandic and Swedish gagna (“to avail, help”), Danish gavne (“to benefit”).
The Middle English word was reinforced by Middle French gain (“gain, profit, advancement, cultivation”), from Old French gaaing, gaaigne, gaigne, a noun derivative of gaaignier (“to till, earn, win”), from Frankish *waidanjan (“to pasture, graze, hunt for food”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waiþiz, *waiþī, *waiþō, *waiþijō (“pasture, field, hunting ground”); compare Old High German weidōn, weidanōn (“to hunt, forage for food”) (Modern German Weide (“pasture”)), Old Norse veiða (“to catch, hunt”), Old English wǣþan (“to hunt, chase, pursue”). Related to wathe, wide.
Verb
gain (third-person singular simple present gains, present participle gaining, simple past and past participle gained)
- (transitive) To acquire possession of.
- Looks like you've gained a new friend.
- Bible, Matthew xvi. 26
- What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
- (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- For fame with toil we gain, but lose with ease.
- (intransitive) To have or receive advantage or profit; to acquire gain; to grow rich; to advance in interest, health, or happiness; to make progress.
- The sick man gains daily.
- Bible, Ezekiel xxii. 12
- Thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion.
- (transitive, dated) To come off winner or victor in; to be successful in; to obtain by competition.
- to gain a battle; to gain a case at law
- (transitive) To increase.
- 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V
- Then they had bouts of wrestling and of cudgel play, so that every day they gained in skill and strength.
- 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V
- (intransitive) To be more likely to catch or overtake an individual.
- I'm gaining (on you).
- gain ground
- (transitive) To reach.
- to gain the top of a mountain
- 1907, Jack London, The Iron Heel:
- Ernest laughed harshly and savagely when he had gained the street.
- To draw into any interest or party; to win to one's side; to conciliate.
- Bible, Matthew xviii. 15
- If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
- (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- to gratify the queen, and gain the court
- Bible, Matthew xviii. 15
- (intransitive) To put on weight.
- I've been gaining.
- (of a clock or watch) To run fast.
Translations
|
|
Noun
gain (countable and uncountable, plural gains)
- The act of gaining; acquisition.
- (Can we date this quote by Tennyson and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- the lust of gain
- (Can we date this quote by Tennyson and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- What is gained.
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Everyone shall share in the gains.
- (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (electronics) The factor by which a signal is multiplied.
- 1987, John Borwick, Sound recording practice (page 238)
- There follows the high and low-frequency replay equalization, which normally involves two adjustments with a further control allowing the replay gain to be set.
- 1987, John Borwick, Sound recording practice (page 238)
Antonyms
Derived terms
- autogain
- gainful
- gainsome
- gain-ground (game)
Translations
|
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
|
Etymology 2
From dialectal English gen, gin, short for again, agen (“against”); also Middle English gain, gayn, gein, ȝæn (“against”), from Old English gēan, geġn (“against”). More at against.
Preposition
gain
Derived terms
Etymology 3
From Middle English gayn, gein, geyn (“straight, direct, short, fit, good”), from Old Norse gegn (“straight, direct, short, ready, serviceable, kindly”), from gegn (“opposite, against”, adverb) (whence gagna (“to go against, meet, suit, be meet”)); see below at gain. Adverb from Middle English gayn, gayne (“fitly, quickly”), from the adjective.
Adjective
gain (comparative more gain, superlative most gain)
- (obsolete) Straight, direct; near; short.
- the gainest way
- (obsolete) Suitable; convenient; ready.
- (dialectal) Easy; tolerable; handy, dexterous.
- (dialectal) Honest; respectable; moderate; cheap.
Derived terms
Adverb
gain (comparative more gain, superlative most gain)
- (obsolete) Straightly; quickly; by the nearest way or means.
- (dialectal) Suitably; conveniently; dexterously; moderately.
- (dialectal) Tolerably; fairly.
- gain quiet (= fairly/pretty quiet)
Etymology 4
Compare Welsh gan (“a mortise”).
Noun
gain (plural gains)
- (architecture) A square or bevelled notch cut out of a girder, binding joist, or other timber which supports a floor beam, so as to receive the end of the floor beam.
Anagrams
Basque
Noun
gain
French
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French gain, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French gaaing, from the verb gaaignier (“to earn, gain, seize, conquer by force”), from Old (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Frankish *waidanjan (“to graze, forage, hunt”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *waiþō (“a hunt, pasture, food”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *weye- (“to go, seek, crave, hunt, desire, drive”). Cognate with Old High German weidanōn (“to hunt, chase”), German Weide (“pasture, pasturage”). Compare also related Old French gain (“harvest time, revival”), from Old Frankish *waida (“income, food, fodder”) (whence French regain), from the same Germanic source.
Pronunciation
Noun
gain m (plural gains)
Further reading
- “gain”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Louisiana Creole French
Etymology
From French gagner ; compare Haitian Creole gen / genyen.
Verb
gain
- to have
Middle English
Etymology 1
Adjective
gain
- Alternative form of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”)
Etymology 2
Noun
gain
- Alternative form of gayn (“gain, reward, advantage”)
Etymology 3
Verb
gain
- Alternative form of gaynen
Etymology 4
From Old English ġeġn, gæġn, from Proto-Germanic *gagin; also influenced by Old Norse gegn, from the same Proto-Germanic form. Doublet of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”).
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "from <i class=\"Latn mention\" lang=\"ang\">gæġn</i>" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ɡɛi̯n/, /ɡeːn/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "from <i class=\"Latn mention\" lang=\"ang\">ġeġn</i>" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /jɛi̯n/, /jeːn/
Preposition
gain
- against, next to, touching
- (figurative) against, opposed to, counter to, opposing (usually used in religious and spiritual contexts)
- towards, to, nearing
- (rare) on, on top of
- (rare) facing, pointed towards
Descendants
References
- “yẹ̄n (prep.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.
Adverb
gain
References
- “yẹ̄n (adv.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.
Middle French
Etymology
Noun
gain m (plural gains)
- income (financial)
- 15th century, Rustichello da Pisa (original author), Mazarine Master (scribe), The Travels of Marco Polo, page 19, line 16:
- et donnoit chascun iour de son gaaing pour Dieu
- and every day he gave away some of his income for God
Descendants
- French: gain
References
- gain on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
Welsh
Pronunciation
Adjective
gain
- Soft mutation of cain.
Mutation
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪn
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Frankish
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- Requests for date/Alexander Pope
- English intransitive verbs
- English dated terms
- Requests for date/Dryden
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- Requests for date/Tennyson
- Requests for date/Shakespeare
- en:Electronics
- English terms derived from Old English
- English prepositions
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English adjectives
- English dialectal terms
- English adverbs
- en:Architecture
- Basque lemmas
- Basque nouns
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Frankish
- French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Finance
- Louisiana Creole terms derived from French
- Louisiana Creole lemmas
- Louisiana Creole verbs
- Louisiana Creole entries with incorrect language header
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old Norse
- Middle English terms derived from Old Norse
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English adjectives
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English verbs
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English doublets
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English prepositions
- Middle English terms with rare senses
- Middle English adverbs
- enm:Religion
- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French masculine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- Middle French terms with quotations
- Welsh terms with IPA pronunciation
- Welsh non-lemma forms
- Welsh mutated adjectives
- Welsh soft-mutation forms