Charge

How to spell charge

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce charge

What does charge mean?

1. verbTo ask a particular price or fee for goods or services.
2. verbTo store electrical energy in a battery or device.
3. verbTo formally accuse someone of a crime or offence.
4. verbTo rush forward in a sudden, forceful attack or movement.
5. nounA price or fee asked for goods or services.
6. nounA duty or responsibility, or a person placed in someone's care.

Charge in a sentence

• verb

  The garage will charge extra for a same-day repair.

• verb

  Remember to charge your phone before the long flight.

• verb

  The police decided to charge him with theft.

• verb

  The bull began to charge at the open gate.

• noun

  There is a small delivery charge on every online order.

• noun

  The new manager took charge of the entire warehouse.

Where does charge come from?

Language of origin: French

Charge entered English in the 1200s from the Old French verb chargier and noun charge, meaning 'to load' or 'a load'. These came in turn from the Late Latin carricare, 'to load a wagon', built on the Latin carrus, a 'wheeled wagon' (a word the Romans themselves borrowed from Gaulish). The original idea of loading or burdening a vehicle spread outward in many directions: a financial 'charge' is a burden of cost laid on someone, an accusation is a burden of blame, a 'charge' in your care is a responsibility laid on you, and a cavalry 'charge' is the moment riders bear down with full weight. The same carrus root also gave English 'car', 'cargo', 'carry', and 'carriage', so charge sits in a large, very practical family. Because the spelling stays close to its French source, the soft 'g' is simply written 'ge', and the word causes few problems for adult writers.

How the word is built

• charg- (from Late Latin carricare 'to load', from carrus 'wheeled wagon')