Lodged

How to spell lodged

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce lodged

What does lodged mean?

1. verbFormally submitted or registered a document, claim, or complaint with an authority.
2. verbBecame firmly embedded or stuck in a particular position.
3. verbStayed temporarily in rented or borrowed accommodation, or housed someone there.

Lodged in a sentence

• The tenants lodged a formal complaint with the housing office.

• A fish bone lodged in his throat during dinner.

• During the conference she lodged in a small guest house near the station.

• She lodged her tax return well before the deadline.

• The ball lodged between two branches high in the tree.

• The family lodged two students in their spare room for the term.

Where does lodged come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the past tense of the verb 'lodge', which came into Middle English from the Old French 'logier', meaning 'to provide with a temporary dwelling' or 'to encamp'. That French verb was built on the noun 'loge', a hut, arbour, or covered walkway, which itself traces back to a Frankish Germanic word 'laubja' meaning a shelter made of foliage or leafy branches. From the literal idea of housing someone in a small shelter, the sense broadened so that to lodge something was to place it firmly somewhere, then to fix it so it would not move, and eventually to formally deposit a document or complaint with an authority. The same humble 'loge' also gives us the 'lodge' of a porter, a Masonic lodge, and the theatre 'loge' box. The silent-looking 'dg' spelling, where the soft 'j' sound is written with a 'd', is the classic trap, and adding '-ed' leaves the 'g' buried in the middle.

How the word is built

• lodge (a small dwelling or shelter, hence to settle, place, or submit)
• -ed (past tense/past participle suffix)