champerty

US /ˈtʃæmpɚti/ UK /ˈtʃæmpəti/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
an illegal bargain to fund another's lawsuit for a share of the proceeds

The court dismissed the claim as tainted by champerty.

Thesaurus

Word family

Related forms champertouschampartor

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman champartie, from Old French champart ('field-rent, a lord's share of a tenant's crop'), from Latin campi pars ('part of the field'), from campus ('field') + pars ('part').

campart Old French campus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Abstract Ideas Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# champerty

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈtʃæmpɚti/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtʃæmpəti/

## Meanings
1. an illegal bargain to fund another's lawsuit for a share of the proceeds

## Examples
- The court dismissed the claim as tainted by champerty.

## Related Forms
- champertous
- champartor

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: campart
- Root: campus

## Etymology
From Anglo-Norman champartie, from Old French champart ('field-rent, a lord's share of a tenant's crop'), from Latin campi pars ('part of the field'), from campus ('field') + pars ('part').

## AI Etymology
Champerty comes from Anglo-Norman champartie, from Old French champart ('field-rent, a lord's share of a tenant's crop'), from Latin campi pars ('part of the field'), from campus ('field') + pars ('part'). The historical trail runs through campart in Old French and campus in Latin. Morphologically, champerty is transparent: it draws on Anglo-Norman champartie, from Old French champart ('field-rent, a lord's share of a tenant's crop'), from Latin campi pars ('part of the field'), from campus ('field') + pars ('part'). Used as a noun, champerty now means "an illegal bargain to fund another's lawsuit for a share of the proceeds", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as champertous and champartor. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- Abstract Ideas
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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