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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English gayn, gain, gein (“profit, advantage”), from Old Norse gagn (“benefit, advantage, use”), from Proto-Germanic *gagną, *gaganą (“gain, profit", literally "return”), from Proto-Germanic *gagana (“back, against, in return”), a reduplication of Proto-Germanic *ga- (“with, together”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“next to, at, with, along”).
Cognate with Icelandic gagn (“gain, advantage, use”), Swedish gagn (“benefit, profit”), Danish gavn (“gain, profit, success”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌴𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (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, gaigner (“to till, earn, win”), from Frankish *waiþanōn (“to pasture, graze, hunt for food”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waiþiz, *waiþō, *waiþijō (“pasture, field, hunting ground”); compare Old High German weidōn, weidanōn (“to hunt, forage for food”) (Modern German Weide (“pasture”)), Old Norse veiða (“to catch, hunt”), Old English wǣþan (“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.
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XXI, page 35:Another answers, ‘Let him be,
He loves to make parade of pain,
That with his piping he may gain
The praise that comes to constancy.’
- (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.
- (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
1908, Jack London, The Iron Heel, New York: The Macmillan Company: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.
1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:to gratify the queen, and gain the court
- (intransitive) To put on weight.
- I've been gaining.
2020, Riley Willman, “Ana”, in Rapids Review (Anoka Ramsey Community College):Thinspo, bonespo, meanspo, sweetspo, anything that could motivate me not to eat, not to consume, not to gain, not to fail.
- (of a clock or watch) To run fast.
Conjugation
Derived terms
Translations
acquire
- Arabic: كَسَبَ (kasaba)
- Armenian: շահիլ (hy) (šahil) (Western Armenian), ստանալ (hy) (stanal)
- Aromanian: amintu
- Bulgarian: печеля (bg) (pečelja), придобивам (bg) (pridobivam)
- Dutch: verkrijgen (nl), winnen (nl), bekomen (nl)
- Finnish: saada (fi), hankkia (fi)
- French: gagner (fr)
- Galician: gañar (gl)
- Georgian: მიღება (miɣeba), შეძენა (šeʒena)
- German: gewinnen (de)
- Gothic: 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (fairwaurkjan)
- Greek: κερδίζω (el) (kerdízo), αποκτώ (el) (apoktó)
- Ancient: κερδαίνω (kerdaínō), κτάομαι (ktáomai)
- Hebrew: קיבל (he)
- Hungarian: szerez (hu), szert tesz (hu), elnyer (hu), nyer (hu), kap (hu), gyarapodik (hu)
- Interlingua: ganiar
- Irish: gnóthaigh
- Italian: guadagnare (it), acquisire (it)
- Japanese: 獲得する, 増強する
- Korean: 얻다 (ko) (eotda)
- Latgalian: dabuot, turēt, apturēt, pasmeļt
- Latin: teneo (la), lucror
- Latvian: gūt, iegūt, dabūt
- Middle English: awinnen, winnen
- Polish: zyskać (pl) pf
- Portuguese: ganhar (pt)
- Romanian: primi (ro), câștiga (ro)
- Russian: получа́ть (ru) impf (polučátʹ), получи́ть (ru) pf (polučítʹ), приобрета́ть (ru) (priobretátʹ), приобрести́ (ru) (priobrestí)
- Sanskrit: लभते (sa) (labhate)
- Spanish: ganar (es)
- Swedish: skaffa (sv)
- Telugu: పొందు (te) (pondu)
- Ukrainian: отри́мувати (otrýmuvaty)
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Noun
gain (countable and uncountable, plural gains)
- The act of gaining; acquisition.
c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:All running headlong after greedie ſpoiles:
And more regarding gaine than victorie:
2023 June 25, Charles Hugh Smith, The Corruption of POTUS, SCOTUS and SCROTUS:When power is sought primarily for private gain, the social fabric decays and unravels.
- The thing or things gained.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Everyone shall share in the gains.
- (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.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
what one gains (profit)
- Armenian: վաստակ (hy) (vastak)
- Bulgarian: печалба (bg) f (pečalba)
- Czech: zisk (cs) m
- Danish: gevinst (da)
- Dutch: winst (nl) f
- Finnish: voitto (fi), hyöty (fi)
- French: gain (fr) m
- Georgian: მოგება (mogeba), მიღებული (miɣebuli), შენაძენი (šenaʒeni), შემოსავალი (šemosavali), სარგებელი (sargebeli)
- German: Gewinn (de) m, Zugewinn m, Ertrag (de) m, Ausbeute (de) f
- Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌹 n (gawaurki)
- Hungarian: haszon (hu), nyereség (hu)
- Irish: brabach m
- Italian: lucro (it) m, guadagno (it) m, profitto (it) m
- Japanese: 進展 (ja) (shinten), 進歩 (ja) (shinpo)
- Latin: quaestus m, fanus n, fructum m
- Middle English: gayn, win
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: gevinst m, utbytte (no) n
- Nynorsk: gevinst m, utbytte n
- Ottoman Turkish: آصی (ası), فائده (faʼide)
- Persian: سود (fa) (sud), بهره (fa) (bahre)
- Portuguese: ganho (pt) m
- Russian: при́быль (ru) f (príbylʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: prothaid f
- Spanish: ganancia (es) f
- Swedish: vinst (sv) c
- Tocharian B: kallau
- Ukrainian: прибу́ток (uk) (prybútok), ви́граш (výhraš)
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factor by which signal is multiplied
Translations to be checked
Etymology 2
From dialectal English gen, gin, short for again, agen (“against”); also Middle English gain, gayn, gein, ȝæn (“against”), from Old English gēan, geġn (“against”). More at against.
Preposition
gain
- (obsolete) Against.
Derived terms
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.
1485 July, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter XX, in William Caxton, editor, Le Morte D’Arthur, volume 1:[...] many times his horse and he plunged over the head in deep mires, for he knew not the way, but took the gainest way in that woodness, that many times he was like to perish.
- the gainest way
- (obsolete) Suitable; convenient; ready.
- (dialectal) Easy; tolerable; handy, dexterous.
- (dialectal) Honest; respectable; moderate; cheap.
Derived terms
Translations
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
Etymology
From Proto-Basque *gaiN, further etymology unknown.
Pronunciation
Noun
gain inan
- upper part, top
- Synonym: gainalde
- summit
- Synonym: tontor
- cream (butterfat part of milk which rises to the top)
- Synonyms: esne-gain, goien
- (figurative) cream (the best part of something)
Declension
Declension of gain (inanimate, ending in consonant)
Derived terms
Further reading
- "gain" in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus
- “gain” in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia , euskaltzaindia.eus
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French gain, from Old French gaaing, deverbal from the verb gaaignier (“to earn, gain, seize, conquer by force”) (whence Modern French gagner).
Pronunciation
Noun
gain m (plural gains)
- a gain (of something), an instance of saving (something); an increase (in something)
- Antonym: perte
- un gain de temps ― an increase in time
- un gain de productivité ― an increase in productivity
- (usually in the plural) winnings, earnings, takings
- (finance) gain, yield
Derived terms
See also
Further reading
Louisiana Creole
Etymology
From French gagner (“to gain”), compare Haitian Creole gen.
Verb
gain
- to have
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English ġeġn, gæġn, from Proto-West Germanic *gagin, 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
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡæi̯n/, /ɡeːn/, /jæi̯n/, /jeːn/
Preposition
gain
- against, next to, touching
- (figurative) 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
References
Adverb
gain
- back (to), returning (to)
References
Etymology 2
Adjective
gain
- Alternative form of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”)
Etymology 3
Noun
gain
- Alternative form of gayn (“gain, reward, advantage”)
Etymology 4
Verb
gain
- Alternative form of gaynen
Middle French
Etymology
Old French gaaing.
Noun
gain m (plural gains)
- income (financial)
15th century, Rustichello da Pisa (original author), Mazarine Master (scribe), The Travels of Marco Polo, page 19, line 16:et donnoit chascun iour de son gaaing pour Dieu- and every day he gave away some of his income for God
Descendants
References
- gain on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
Welsh
Pronunciation
Adjective
gain
- Soft mutation of cain.
Mutation