Damage

How to spell damage

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce damage

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does damage mean?

1. nounPhysical harm or injury that reduces the value or usefulness of something.
2. verbTo cause physical harm to something, reducing its value or function.

Damage in a sentence

• noun

  The storm caused serious damage to the roof.

• verb

  Dropping the laptop could damage the screen.

• noun

  The insurer assessed the damage before approving the claim.

• verb

  Harsh chemicals can damage delicate fabrics.

Where does damage come from?

Language of origin: French

This word arrived in English in the early 1300s from Old French 'damage', which meant loss or injury. The French form was built on the Latin 'damnum', a noun that literally meant 'loss', 'harm', or even a financial penalty levied by a court. That same Latin root gave us 'condemn' and 'damn', where the underlying idea of incurring loss or pronouncing a penalty still lingers. The French suffix '-age' was added to express the resulting state or amount, so the word originally captured the loss one suffered rather than the act of breaking something. Over time English shifted the sense toward the physical harm itself, and the soft middle 'g' (sounded like 'j') is a clue to the French route rather than a hard Germanic origin.

How the word is built

• dam- (from Latin damnum: loss, harm)
• -age (noun suffix forming a result or condition)