Winnings

How to spell winnings

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce winnings

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does winnings mean?

1. nounMoney or prizes gained by winning, especially through gambling, a competition, or a lottery.

Winnings in a sentence

• He reinvested his lottery winnings in a small flat near the coast.

• The casino paid out her winnings in a single cheque.

Where does winnings come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word traces back to the Old English verb winnan, which originally meant 'to labour, struggle, or fight for' something rather than simply 'to come first'. That sense of effort lingered for centuries, and only gradually did 'win' settle into its modern meaning of gaining victory or prize. The plural noun 'winnings', meaning the money or goods someone has won, is built by adding the noun-forming suffix -ing and then the plural -s, so it literally names the gains that have been fought for. The doubled n is the spelling trap: it comes from the short, stressed vowel in 'win', which by English convention doubles the following consonant before -ing. Close relatives in the Germanic family, such as German gewinnen 'to win', show the same struggling-for-gain root, and the older flavour survives in expressions about hard-won success.

How the word is built

• win (Old English winnan: to fight for, gain)
• -ing (noun-forming suffix)
• -s (plural)