pawn
pronunciation
How to pronounce pawn in British English:
UK [pɔ:n]
How to pronounce pawn in American English:
US [pɔn]
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- Noun:
- an article deposited as security
- a person used by another to gain an end
- (chess) the least powerful piece; moves only forward and captures only to the side; it can be promoted to a more powerful piece if it reaches the 8th rank
- borrowing and leaving an article as security for repayment of the loan
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- Verb:
- leave as a guarantee in return for money
Word Origin
- pawn
- pawn: English has two words pawn. The older, ‘chess piece’ [14], means etymologically ‘footsoldier’. It comes via Anglo-Norman poun from medieval Latin pedō ‘infantryman’, a derivative of Latin pēs ‘foot’ (to which English foot is related). The foot-soldier being the lowest of the low in the army, the term came to be applied to the ‘chess piece of lowest rank’. (English gets pioneer from a derivative of paon, the Old French version of poun.) Pawn ‘pledge as security for a loan’ [15] comes via Old French pan ‘security, pledge’ from a prehistoric West Germanic *panda (source of modern German pfand ‘pledge, security, pawn’). Penny may go back to the same source.=> foot, pedal, pioneer; penny
- pawn (n.1)
- "something left as security," late 15c. (mid-12c. as Anglo-Latin pandum), from Old French pan, pant "pledge, security," also "booty, plunder," perhaps from Frankish or some other Germanic source (compare Old High German pfant, German Pfand, Middle Dutch pant, Old Frisian pand "pledge"), from West Germanic *panda, of unknown origin. The Old French word is identical to pan "cloth, piece of cloth," from Latin pannum (nominative pannus) "cloth, piece of cloth, garment" and Klein's sources feel this is the source of both the Old French and West Germanic words (perhaps on the notion of cloth used as a medium of exchange).
- pawn (n.2)
- lowly chess piece, late 14c., from Anglo-French poun, Old French peon, earlier pehon, from Medieval Latin pedonem "foot soldier," from Late Latin pedonem (nominative pedo) "one going on foot," from Latin pes (genitive pedis) "foot," from PIE root *ped- (1) "a foot" (see foot (n.)). The chess sense was in Old French by 13c. Figurative use, of persons, is from 1580s.
- pawn (v.)
- "to give (something) as security in exchange for," 1560s, from pawn (n.1). Related: Pawned; pawning.
Example
- 1. Even that staple of the urban poor , the pawn shop , is being reinvented .
- 2. But the little bank based in st gallen is a mere pawn in a much bigger game being played between switzerland and america over banking secrecy and tax fraud .
- 3. If a few small gold earrings escaped the cyclone the villagers pawn them , otherwise they pawn their clothes .
- 4. International relations is usually likened to a game of chess , and the united states is again grappling with how to tackle a pawn that is so well protected by the queen .
- 5. " Their plan is to have sunni muslims fight shia muslims , and turkey has become the chief pawn in this dirty game , " says one commentator .