pawn.
The state of being held as security for a loan, or as a pledge.
Meaning & usage
The state of being held as security for a loan, or as a pledge.
All our jewellery was in pawn by this stage.
An instance of pawning something.
An item given as security on a loan, or as a pledge.
A pawnshop; pawnbroker.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English paun, pawyn, pawnd, from Old French pan, pant (“pledge for a payment”), from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *pand (“deposit, security, pledge”), further origin uncertain. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pound (“deposit, pledge, pawn”), West Frisian pân (“pawn”), Dutch pand (“pledge, pawn”), German Low German Pand (“deposit, pledge, pawn”), German Pfand (“deposit, pledge, pawn”), Swedish pant (“pledge, pawn”), Faroese pantur (“security, lien”), Icelandic pantur (“pledge, security, pawn”).
To pledge; to stake or wager.
To give as security on a loan of money; especially, to deposit (something) at a pawn shop.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English paun, pawyn, pawnd, from Old French pan, pant (“pledge for a payment”), from a Germanic language, perhaps Frankish *pand (“deposit, security, pledge”), further origin uncertain. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pound (“deposit, pledge, pawn”), West Frisian pân (“pawn”), Dutch pand (“pledge, pawn”), German Low German Pand (“deposit, pledge, pawn”), German Pfand (“deposit, pledge, pawn”), Swedish pant (“pledge, pawn”), Faroese pantur (“security, lien”), Icelandic pantur (“pledge, security, pawn”).
The most numerous chess piece, or a similar piece in a similar game. In chess, each side starts with eight; moves are only forward, and attacks are only diagonally or en passant.
A person being manipulated by another, being used to some end.
Though a pawn of the gods, her departure is the precipitating cause of the Trojan War.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English pown, from Anglo-Norman poun, paun (“footman”), from Late Latin pedōnem (“pedestrian”), derived from Latin ped- (“foot”). Doublet of peon.
A gallery.
Alternative form of paan.
Alternative spelling of pwn.
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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.