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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

bargain.

An agreement between parties concerning the sale of property; or a contract by which one party binds themself to transfer the right to some property for a consideration, and the other party binds themself to receive the property and pay the consideration.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈbɑːɡən/Received-Pronunciation/-ɡɪn/Received-Pronunciation/ˈbɑːɹɡən/General-American
  1. An agreement between parties concerning the sale of property; or a contract by which one party binds themself to transfer the right to some property for a consideration, and the other party binds themself to receive the property and pay the consideration.

  2. An agreement or stipulation; mutual pledge.

  3. An item purchased for significantly less than the usual, or recommended, price

  4. A gainful transaction; an advantageous purchase.

    to buy (something) at a bargain
    At that price, it’s not just a bargain, it’s a steal.
  5. The thing stipulated or purchased.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English bargaynen (“to bargain, make a pledge for sale”), from Old French bargaigner (“to bargain”), from Frankish *borganjan (“to borrow, lend”), from Proto-Germanic *burgijaną (“to borrow, lend”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to protect, secure”). Akin to Old High German boragēn, borgēn (“to look after, care for”) (German borgen), Old English borgian (“to borrow, lend, pledge”). More at borrow. Compare French barguigner and Portuguese barganhar.

verb/ˈbɑːɡən/Received-Pronunciation/-ɡɪn/Received-Pronunciation/ˈbɑːɹɡən/General-American
  1. To make a bargain; to make a deal or contract for the exchange of property or services; to negotiate; to haggle.

    intransitive
    They had to bargain for a few minutes to get a decent price for the rug.
  2. To transfer for a consideration; to barter; to trade

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English bargaynen (“to bargain, make a pledge for sale”), from Old French bargaigner (“to bargain”), from Frankish *borganjan (“to borrow, lend”), from Proto-Germanic *burgijaną (“to borrow, lend”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰergʰ- (“to protect, secure”). Akin to Old High German boragēn, borgēn (“to look after, care for”) (German borgen), Old English borgian (“to borrow, lend, pledge”). More at borrow. Compare French barguigner and Portuguese barganhar.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.