Change

How to spell change

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce change

What does change mean?

1. verbTo make or become different; to replace one thing with another.
2. nounAn act or instance of something becoming different.
3. nounThe coins or money returned when payment exceeds the price; small coins.

Change in a sentence

• verb

  A new manager could change the way the team works.

• noun

  The company announced a major change to its pricing policy.

• noun

  The cashier counted out his change before handing it back.

• verb

  They decided to change the meeting to a later time.

• noun

  A change in the weather forced the picnic indoors.

• noun

  She kept a jar of loose change on the kitchen shelf.

Where does change come from?

Language of origin: French

This word arrived in English in the early 1200s from Old French changier, which meant 'to alter' or 'to exchange'. That French verb came in turn from the Late Latin cambiare, meaning 'to barter' or 'to exchange', a term that the Romans themselves seem to have picked up from a Celtic source meaning 'to trade'. The original flavour of bartering survives clearly in the modern sense of 'change' as the coins handed back after a purchase. Over the centuries the meaning broadened from straightforward exchange to the much wider idea of making or becoming different. The same Latin cambiare also gave English the banking word 'exchange', which is why the two share that core idea of swapping one thing for another.

How the word is built

• chang- (from Latin cambiare: to barter, exchange)
• -e (silent final from French)