different between gain vs worth
gain
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?e?n/
- Rhymes: -e?n
Etymology 1
From Middle English gayn, gain, gein (“profit, advantage”), from Old Norse gagn (“benefit, advantage, use”), from Proto-Germanic *gagn?, *gagan? (“gain, profit", literally "return”), from Proto-Germanic *gagana (“back, against, in return”), a reduplication of Proto-Germanic *ga- (“with, together”), from Proto-Indo-European *?óm (“next to, at, with, along”). Cognate with Icelandic gagn (“gain, advantage, use”), Swedish gagn (“benefit, profit”), Danish gavn (“gain, profit, success”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (gageigan, “to gain, profit”), Old Norse gegn (“ready”), dialectal Swedish gen (“useful, noteful”), Latin cum (“with”); see gain-, again, against. Compare also Middle English gaynen, geinen (“to be of use, profit, avail”), Icelandic and Swedish gagna (“to avail, help”), Danish gavne (“to benefit”).
The Middle English word was reinforced by Middle French gain (“gain, profit, advancement, cultivation”), from Old French gaaing, gaaigne, gaigne, a noun derivative of gaaignier (“to till, earn, win”), from Frankish *waidanjan (“to pasture, graze, hunt for food”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waiþiz, *waiþ?, *waiþij? (“pasture, field, hunting ground”); compare Old High German weid?n, weidan?n (“to hunt, forage for food”) (Modern German Weide (“pasture”)), Old Norse veiða (“to catch, hunt”), Old English w?þan (“to hunt, chase, pursue”). Related to wathe, wide.
Verb
gain (third-person singular simple present gains, present participle gaining, simple past and past participle gained)
- (transitive) To acquire possession of.
- Looks like you've gained a new friend.
- (intransitive) To have or receive advantage or profit; to acquire gain; to grow rich; to advance in interest, health, or happiness; to make progress.
- The sick man gains daily.
- (transitive, dated) To come off winner or victor in; to be successful in; to obtain by competition.
- to gain a battle; to gain a case at law
- (transitive) To increase.
- 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V
- Then they had bouts of wrestling and of cudgel play, so that every day they gained in skill and strength.
- 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V
- (intransitive) To be more likely to catch or overtake an individual.
- I'm gaining (on you).
- gain ground
- (transitive) To reach.
- to gain the top of a mountain
- 1907, Jack London, The Iron Heel:
- Ernest laughed harshly and savagely when he had gained the street.
- To draw into any interest or party; to win to one's side; to conciliate.
- If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
- to gratify the queen, and gain the court
- (intransitive) To put on weight.
- I've been gaining.
- (of a clock or watch) To run fast.
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
gain (countable and uncountable, plural gains)
- The act of gaining; acquisition.
- 1855, Alfred Tennyson, Maude
- the lust of gain, in the spirit of Cain
- 1855, Alfred Tennyson, Maude
- What is gained.
- (electronics) The factor by which a signal is multiplied.
- 1987, John Borwick, Sound recording practice (page 238)
- There follows the high and low-frequency replay equalization, which normally involves two adjustments with a further control allowing the replay gain to be set.
- 1987, John Borwick, Sound recording practice (page 238)
Antonyms
- loss
Derived terms
- autogain
- gainful
- gainsome
- gain-ground (game)
Translations
Etymology 2
From dialectal English gen, gin, short for again, agen (“against”); also Middle English gain, gayn, gein, ?æn (“against”), from Old English g?an, ge?n (“against”). More at against.
Preposition
gain
- (obsolete) Against.
Derived terms
- gainful
Etymology 3
From Middle English gayn, gein, geyn (“straight, direct, short, fit, good”), from Old Norse gegn (“straight, direct, short, ready, serviceable, kindly”), from gegn (“opposite, against”, adverb) (whence gagna (“to go against, meet, suit, be meet”)); see below at gain. Adverb from Middle English gayn, gayne (“fitly, quickly”), from the adjective.
Adjective
gain (comparative more gain, superlative most gain)
- (obsolete) Straight, direct; near; short.
- the gainest way
- (obsolete) Suitable; convenient; ready.
- (dialectal) Easy; tolerable; handy, dexterous.
- (dialectal) Honest; respectable; moderate; cheap.
Translations
Derived terms
- gainly
- gainsome
Adverb
gain (comparative more gain, superlative most gain)
- (obsolete) Straightly; quickly; by the nearest way or means.
- (dialectal) Suitably; conveniently; dexterously; moderately.
- (dialectal) Tolerably; fairly.
- gain quiet (= fairly/pretty quiet)
Etymology 4
Compare Welsh gan (“a mortise”).
Noun
gain (plural gains)
- (architecture) A square or bevelled notch cut out of a girder, binding joist, or other timber which supports a floor beam, so as to receive the end of the floor beam.
Anagrams
- Agin, Agni, Angi, Gina, NGIA, Nagi, Ngai, a- -ing, ag'in, agin, gina, inga
Basque
Noun
gain
- summit
French
Etymology
From Middle French gain, from Old French gaaing, from the verb gaaignier (“to earn, gain, seize, conquer by force”), from Frankish *waidanjan (“to graze, forage, hunt”), from Proto-Germanic *waiþ? (“a hunt, pasture, food”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyh?- (“to seek, crave, hunt”). Cognate with Old High German weidan?n (“to hunt, chase”), German Weide (“pasture, pasturage”). Compare also related Old French gain (“harvest time, revival”), from Frankish *waida (“income, food, fodder”) (whence French regain), from the same Germanic source.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /???/
Noun
gain m (plural gains)
- (usually in the plural) winnings, earnings, takings
- (finance) gain, yield
Derived terms
- gain de cause
- gain du temps
Further reading
- “gain” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Louisiana Creole French
Etymology
From French gagner (“to gain”), compare Haitian Creole gen.
Verb
gain
- to have
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old Norse gegn.
Adjective
gain
- Alternative form of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”)
Etymology 2
From Old Norse gagn.
Noun
gain
- Alternative form of gayn (“gain, reward, advantage”)
Etymology 3
From Old Norse gegna.
Verb
gain
- Alternative form of gaynen
Etymology 4
From Old English ?e?n, gæ?n, from Proto-Germanic *gagin; also influenced by Old Norse gegn, from the same Proto-Germanic form. Doublet of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”).
Alternative forms
- gayn, gein, ?æn, ?ein, ?ean, gayne, gen, gan, gaine, geyn
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /??i?n/, /?e?n/, /j?i?n/, /je?n/
Preposition
gain
- against, next to, touching
- (figuratively) against, opposed to, counter to, opposing (usually used in religious and spiritual contexts)
- towards, to, nearing
- (rare) on, on top of
- (rare) facing, pointed towards
Descendants
- English: gain (obsolete)
- Scots: gain, gin
References
- “y??n, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.
Adverb
gain
- back (to), returning (to)
References
- “y??n, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.
Middle French
Etymology
Old French gaaing.
Noun
gain m (plural gains)
- income (financial)
Descendants
- French: gain
References
- gain on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
Welsh
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?ai?n/
Adjective
gain
- Soft mutation of cain.
Mutation
gain From the web:
- what gains electrons
- what gaineth a man
- what gain means
- what gains weight
- what gaineth a man if he
- what gain should you record at
- what gained independence from spain in 1821
- what gains value over time
worth
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /w???/
- (General American) IPA(key): /w??/
- Rhymes: -??(?)?, -?(?)?
Etymology 1
From Middle English worth, from Old English weorþ, from Proto-Germanic *werþaz (“worthy, valuable”); from Proto-Indo-European *wert-.
Cognate with Dutch waard (adjective), Low German weert (adjective), German wert, Wert, Swedish värd, Welsh gwerth.
Adjective
worth (not comparable)
- Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.
- Deserving of.
- (obsolete, except in Scots) Valuable, worthwhile.
- Making a fair equivalent of, repaying or compensating.
Usage notes
The modern adjectival senses of worth compare two noun phrases, prompting some sources to classify the word as a preposition. Most, however, list it an adjective, some with notes like "governing a noun with prepositional force." Fowler's Modern English Usage says, "the adjective worth requires what is most easily described as an object."
Joan Maling (1983) shows that worth is best analysed as a preposition rather than an adjective. CGEL (2002) analyzes it as an adjective.
Compare:
- Organic strawberries are worth paying extra money for.
- It's worth paying extra money for organic strawberries.
When "worth" is used as an adjective of a subject, the verb "to be" (usually associated with "worth") is singular or plural in accordance with the subject (in the first example, in the plural). In the other case, shown in the second example, the subject is the pronoun "it".
Derived terms
Translations
Noun
worth (countable and uncountable, plural worths)
- (countable) Value.
- I’ll have a dollar's worth of candy, please.
- They have proven their worths as individual fighting men and their worth as a unit.
- stocks having a worth of two million pounds
- (uncountable) Merit, excellence.
- Our new director is a man whose worth is well acknowledged.
- (uncountable) Wealth, fortune, riches, property, possessions.
- (uncountable) An amount that could be achieved or produced in a specified time.
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle English worthen, wurthen, werthen (“to be; exist; come into being; come into existence”), from Old English weorþan (“to come into being; be made; become; arise; be”), from Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþan? (“to come about; happen; come into being; become”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn; turn out”).
Cognate with Dutch worden, Low German warrn, German werden, Old Norse verða (Norwegian verta, Swedish varda), Latin vertere.
Alternative forms
- word
Verb
worth (third-person singular simple present worths, present participle worthing, simple past worth or worthed, past participle worth or worthed or worthen)
- (obsolete, except in set phrases) To be, become, betide.
- 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. 3, "Landlord Edmund"
- For, adds our erudite Friend, the Saxon weorthan equivalent to the German werden, means to grow, to become; traces of which old vocable are still found in the North-country dialects, as, ‘What is word of him?’ meaning ‘What is become of him?’ and the like. Nay we in modern English still say, ‘Woe worth the hour.’ [i.e. Woe befall the hour]
- Woe worth the man that crosses me.
- (May good fortune befall you, my friend.)
- 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. 3, "Landlord Edmund"
Derived terms
- forworth
References
- worth in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- worth in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- worth at OneLook Dictionary Search
- Joan Maling (1983), Transitive Adjectives: A Case of Categorial Reanalysis, in F. Henry and B. Richards (eds.), Linguistic Categories: Auxiliaries and Related Puzzles, vol.1, pp. 253-289.
Anagrams
- throw, whort, wroth
Scots
Etymology
From Old English weorþ
Adjective
worth (comparative mair worth, superlative maist worth)
- Valuable, worth while.
worth From the web:
- what worth more than gold
- what worthy mean
- what worth means
- what worthless means
- what worthwhile means
- what worth watching on netflix
- what worth a frost dragon
- what worth having is worth fighting for
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