Etymograph

English

pay

Pay comes from Middle English payen ‘to pay’, and goes back to Medieval Latin pācāre ‘to settle, satisfy’.

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500pācāre1‘to settle’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400paiier1
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500payen1‘to pay’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1594pay1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English pay
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto): “The petty ſtreames that paie a dailie det /…”.

Lineage

  1. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500pācāreWiktionary, English pay‘to settle’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400paiierWiktionary, English pay
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500payenWiktionary, English pay‘to pay’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1594payWiktionary, English pay. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto): “The petty ſtreames that paie a dailie det /…”

The story

In this sense, displaced native Old English ġield (‘pay’) and ġieldan (‘to pay’), whence Modern English yield.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Old French paiier

repay

through Middle English payen ‘to pay’

paid

Another origin of pay

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pik-‘pitch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*piksreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpix‘pitch’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpicoas picāre‘to cover with pitch’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400peier
  6. Englishtodaypay

Today it means

verb To give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pay”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Medieval Latin pācāre / pay

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