gift means something given to another voluntarily, without charge. It carries an Arena rating of 1653, earned across 10 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, gift ranks #56 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #344 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,076 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #6,199 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
gift is pronounced /ɡɪft/.
Why “gift” is a great word
A voluntary offering given without expectation of return, or a natural aptitude possessed by an individual. From Middle English gift, from Old English ġift ("giving, dowry") and Old Norse gipt ("gift, present"), both from Proto-Germanic *giftiz ("gift"). Unlike a "present," which implies a tangible object delivered on a specific occasion, or a "donation," which suggests a formal, often charitable transaction, a gift bears the warmth of personal intention. It is the woolen scarf knitted with uneven stitches, the sudden insight that arrives like a bird on the windowsill, and the child’s crayon drawing pressed onto the kitchen door as an offering of love. The most profound offerings are those for which no return is possible, or desired.
Etymology
From Middle English yifte, ȝift, partly from Old English ġift, ġyft (“giving, consideration, dowry, wedding”) and Old Norse gipt (“gift, present, wedding”); both from Proto-Germanic *giftiz (“gift”). Equivalent to give + -t (etymologically yive + -t). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian jefte (“gift”), Dutch gift (“gift”) and its doublet gif (“poison”), German Gift (“poison”), Luxembourgish Gëft (“poison”), Vilamovian gejft, gyjft (“poison”), Yiddish גיפֿט (gift, “poison”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish gift (“poison”), Icelandic gift (“gift”). Doublet of yift. Distantly related to English habit, from Latin habitus.
noun
- Something given to another voluntarily, without charge.e.g.“She gave him a cell phone as a birthday gift.”
- A talent or natural ability.e.g.“She had a gift for playing the flute.”
- Something gained incidentally, without effort.
- The act, right, or power of giving or bestowing.e.g.“The office is in the gift of the President.”
- A footrace, often a short one with a prize, sometimes with a handicap system whereby runners start from different positions based on their past performance.e.g.“[…] Stawell Gift Committee requested a special train for the gift's one hundredth anniversary celebration but […]” — 1981, [Victoria] Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), volume 363, page 5391
verb
- To give as a gift or donation.
- To give away, to concede easily.e.g.“Chelsea threw away two points when substitute Salomon Kalou gifted Valencia a penalty five minutes from time with a needless handball.” — 2011 September 28, Jon Smith, “Valencia 1 - 1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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