change
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
change
- /ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/ US, UK
- [ˈt͡ʃʰeɪ̯nd͡ʒ] US, UK
- /ˈt͡ʃɛjnd͡ʒ/ British, Southern, Standard
- /ˈt͡ʃæɪnd͡ʒ/ Australia, New Zealand
- [ˈt͡ʃʰæ̝ɪ̯nd͡ʒ] Australia, New Zealand
- /t͡ʃend͡ʒ/ Scotland
- /t͡ʃeːnd͡ʒ/
Rhymes with -eɪndʒ
Where it comes from
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em-?
Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₂embos
Proto-Celtic *kambosder.
Gaulish cambionbor.
Latin cambium
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.
Proto-Italic *-ājō
Proto-Italic *-āō
Latin -ō
Late Latin cambiō
Late Latin cambiāreder.
Old French changierder.
Anglo-Norman chaungerbor.
Middle English chaungen
English change
From Middle English changen, chaungen, from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambiāre, from Latin cambīre (“to exchange, barter”), derived from the noun cambium (“change”) (whence was loaned the English doublet cambium), from Gaulish cambion, earlier *kambyom (“change”), related to Proto-Celtic *kambos (“twisted, crooked”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₂(e)mbos, *(s)kh₂(e)mbos (“crooked”). More at skimp, scam; see also Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em-.
Cognate with Italian cambiare, Portuguese cambiar, Romanian schimba, Sicilian canciari, Spanish cambiar. Used in English since the 13th century. Displaced Middle English wenden, from wendan (“to turn, change”) (whence wend).
The noun is from Middle English change, chaunge, from Old French change, from the verb changier. See also exchange. Possibly related from the same source is Old English gombe.
verb changes · changing · changed · change
- To become something different. The tadpole changed into a frog.
- To make something into something else. Lo I the man, whoſe Muſe whilome did maske, As time her taught in lowly Shepheards weeds, Am now enforſt a far unfitter taske, For trumpets ſterne to chaunge mine oaten reeds, And ſinge of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds[…]
- To replace. Ask the janitor to come and change the lightbulb.
- To replace one's clothing. You can't go into the dressing room while she’s changing.
- To replace the clothing of (the one wearing it), especially to put a clean diaper on (someone). It’s your turn to change the baby.
- To replace the sheets on (a bed) with fresh clean ones.
- To transfer to another vehicle (train, bus, etc.) After stopping at these stations, my train has become busy. Returning day-trippers make up a goodly number, along with young people heading for a night out in Bristol, which is where I change once again.
- To exchange. At the first sight / they have changed eyes. (exchanged looks)
- To change hand while riding (a horse). to change a horse
Similar: alter, modify, make another
noun changes
- The process or result of becoming different. The product is undergoing a change in order to improve it.
- Small denominations of money given in exchange for a larger denomination. Can I get change for this $100 bill, please?
- A replacement. a change of clothes
- A replacement of a soiled diaper with a clean one; a diaper change. The baby needs a change
- Balance of money returned from the sum paid after deducting the price of a purchase. A customer who pays with a 10-pound note for a £9 item receives one pound in change.
- An amount of cash, usually in the form of coins, but sometimes inclusive of paper money. Do you have any change on you? I need to make a phone call.
- A transfer between vehicles. The train journey from Bristol to Nottingham includes a change at Birmingham.
- A change-up pitch.
- Any order in which a number of bells are struck, other than that of the diatonic scale. Four bells admit twenty-four changes in ringing.
- A public house; an alehouse. 1727-1728, Edward Burt, Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to his Friend in London They call an alehouse a change.
Similar: alteration, change, deviation, modification, mutation, permutation, transfiguration, transmutation, variation
