gift

Alternative forms

• yift (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle English gift (also yift, yifte, ȝift, ȝeft), partly from Old English ġift (“giving, consideration, dowry, wedding”) and Old Norse gipt (“gift, present, wedding”); both from Proto-Germanic *giftiz (“gift”). Equivalent to give +‎ -th (etymologically yive + -th).

Cognate with West Frisian jefte (“gift”), Saterland Frisian Gift (“gift”), German Low German Gift (“poison”), Dutch gift (“gift”) and its doublet gif (“poison”), German Gift (“poison”), Danish gift (“gift (obsolete); poison, venom”), Swedish gift (“gift, poison, venom”), Icelandic gift (“gift”). Doublet of yift. Distantly related to English habit, from Latin habitus.

Pronunciation

• (US, UK) enPR: gĭft, IPA^(key): /ɡɪft/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪft

Noun

gift (plural gifts)

1. Something given to another voluntarily, without charge.
   • 1965, Frank Herbert, Dune‎ (Science Fiction), New York: Ace Books, →OCLC, page 48‎:

     “I thank you for the gift, Dr. Yueh,” Paul said, speaking formally. “It will be our secret. If there is a gift or favor you wish from me, please do not hesitate to ask.”
     "I . . . need for nothing," Yueh said.

   • 2021 October 20, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 942, page 71:

     She bought the model as a surprise gift for a friend who is a lifelong HST fan and railwayman, and who will soon be celebrating a milestone birthday.

2. A talent or natural ability.

   She had a gift for playing the flute.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     “ […] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

3. Something gained incidentally, without effort.
4. The act, right, or power of giving or bestowing.

   The office is in the gift of the President.

Verb

gift (third-person singular simple present gifts, present participle gifting, simple past and past participle gifted)

1. (transitive) To give as a gift or donation.
2. (transitive) To give away, to concede easily.
   • 2011 September 28, Jon Smith, “Valencia 1 - 1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Chelsea threw away two points when substitute Salomon Kalou gifted Valencia a penalty five minutes from time with a needless handball.

   • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 440:

     They drove on, every rise in the road lifting their sightline clear of the drystone dykes along the roadside, gifting glimpses of the firth and the islands, the blue peaks of Arran.

Anagrams

• T.G.I.F., TGIF

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡift/, [ɡ̊ifd̥]

Etymology 1

From German Gift (“poison”). Similar to the archaic gift (“gift”), a verbal noun to give (“to give”).

Etymology 2

Originally the past participle of gifte (“marry”).

Etymology 3

From Old Danish gift, from Old Norse gipt. Largely replaced by gave, from Middle Low German gave. The word still exists in some compound words, e.g. afgift.

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Etymology

From Middle Dutch gifte, from Old Dutch *gift, from Proto-West Germanic *gifti, from Proto-Germanic *giftiz. Equivalent to geven (“to give”) +‎ -t (“verbal noun”).

The words gif and vergif, both meaning “poison”, derive from the same source as gift. The sense “poison” may have originated as a shortening of vergift or may have been borrowed from German Gift.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɣɪft/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: gift
• Rhymes: -ɪft

Noun

gift f (plural giften, diminutive giftje n)

1. donation; something given (away) voluntarily

   Synonyms: cadeau, geschenk, schenking

Noun

gift n or f (plural giften, diminutive giftje n)

1. (dated) poison

   Synonyms: gif, venijn, vergif, vergift

Adjective

gift (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) poisonous, toxic, venomous

   Synonym: giftig

Etymology

From German Gift.

Noun

gift f (genitive singular giftar, uncountable)

1. poison

Adjective

gift

1. married, female form of giftur
   • Ert tú gift?

     Are you (f) married?

Etymology

From Old Norse gipt, from Proto-Germanic *giftiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /cɪft/
• Rhymes: -ɪft

Noun

gift f (genitive singular giftar, nominative plural giftir)

1. (obsolete) gift

   Synonym: gjöf

Noun

gift f or m (definite singular gifta or giften, indefinite plural gifter, definite plural giftene)

1. poison (substance harmful to a living organism)

Adjective

gift (neuter singular gift, definite singular and plural gifte)

1. married

Verb

gift

1. imperative of gifte

References

• “gift” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɪft/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse gipt.

Etymology 2

Past participle of gifta.

Alternative forms

• ġyft

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *gifti, from Proto-Germanic *giftiz. Cognate with Old Frisian jeft, Old Saxon *gift (in sundargift (“privilege”, literally “special gift”)), Dutch gift, Old High German gift (German Gift), Old Norse gipt (> English gift), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍆𐍄𐍃 (fragifts).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jift/

Noun

ġift f

1. marriage payment, dowry
2. (in the plural and in compounds) wedding, marriage
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost"

     Þāðā hí noldon cuman to ðam ġiftum, ða sende hé eft, þus cweðende, "Secgað ðam gelaðodum, Efne, ic ġeġearcode mīne gōd, ic ofslóh mine fearras, and mine gemæstan fugelas, and ealle mine ðing ic ġearcode: cumað to þam ġiftum."

     When they would not come to the marriage, he sent again, thus saying, "Say to those who are invited, Behold, I have prepared my meats, I have slain my oxen and my fatted fowls, and have prepared all my things: come to the marriage."

Pronunciation

• Gotland:

  (file)

Etymology 1

From German Gift (“poison”), from Middle High German gift f (“gift, present”), Old High German gift f (“gift”), from Proto-West Germanic *gifti, from Proto-Germanic *giftiz, which is a derivation of *gebaną (“to give”).

Etymology 2

From Old Swedish gipt, from Old Norse gipta (“give away in marriage”), from Proto-Germanic *giftiz.

Etymology 3

From Old Norse gipt. Largely replaced by gåva, from Middle Low German gave. The word still exists in some compound words, e.g. avgift and hemgift.

References

• gift in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• gift in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• gift in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)