wergeld
English · Français · Deutsch · Thesaurus
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
wergeld
- /ˈwɛəɡɛld/ UK
- /ˈweɹɡɛld/ US
Where it comes from
Learned borrowing from Old English werġeld, wereġeld (“compensation for a man killed”), from Proto-West Germanic *werageld. More at wer, geld.
noun wergelds · wehrgeld · weregeld · weregild · were gild · wergelt
-
Blood money, the monetary value assigned to a person, set according to their rank, used to determine the compensation paid by the perpetrator of a crime to the victim in the case of injury or to the victim's kindred in the case of homicide; such a reparative payment or compensation.
The first law we find is one of Æthelbirht's:—"if a freeman lie with a freeman's wife, let him pay for it with his 'wer-geld,' and provide another wife with his own money, and bring her to the other."
Similar: wer
Translations
Talk about this word "wergeld." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/wergeld. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026. wergeld. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/wergeld "wergeld." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/wergeld.Cite this
@misc{wergeld_2026,
title = {wergeld},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wergeld},
urldate = {2026-11-07}
}
