gage

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ɡeɪdʒ/ UK /ɡeɪdʒ/ See IPA manual

Homophones

gauge /ɡeɪdʒ/

Meanings

1

noun
a pledge or token of challenge thrown down; to pledge

The knight flung down his glove as a gage of combat.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a pledge or token of... pledge token challenge guarantee securitypawn

Word family

Related forms engage mortgage wage

Simplified etymology

Gage entered Middle English from an Old French word related to wage and wedding. It meant a valued object deposited as a guarantee of good faith and, as a verb, “to give as a pledge”; it later provided the root of engage.

Etymology

From Old French 'gage' ('pledge, security'), of Germanic origin, from Frankish '*waddi' ('pledge'), related to 'wed' and 'wage'.

gage Old French *wadja- Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# gage

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

## Meanings
1. a pledge or token of challenge thrown down; to pledge

## Examples
- The knight flung down his glove as a gage of combat.

## Synonyms
- pledge
- token
- challenge
- guarantee
- security
- pawn

## Related Forms
- engage
- mortgage
- wage

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: gage
- Root: *wadja-

## Etymology
From Old French 'gage' ('pledge, security'), of Germanic origin, from Frankish '*waddi' ('pledge'), related to 'wed' and 'wage'.

## AI Etymology
Gage comes from Old French 'gage' ('pledge, security'), of Germanic origin, from Frankish '*waddi' ('pledge'), related to 'wed' and 'wage'. The development is chiefly a borrowing or learned continuation, carrying an older form and meaning into English rather than building the word from a purely native base. In present use, it is used as a noun and verb meaning "a pledge or token of challenge thrown down; to pledge", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes related forms such as engage, mortgage, and wage, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Old French gage and Proto-Germanic *wadja-, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance. Its semantic neighborhood includes pledge, token, challenge, and guarantee, locating the modern specialization without adding a new origin story.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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