pay.
To give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services.
Meaning & usage
To give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services.
pay cash or pay in cash, pay by credit/debit card
pay in dollars/euros, etc.
To deposit into an account.
I pay a portion of each paycheck into a savings account.
To discharge, as a debt or other obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required.
to pay compensation, to pay a fine
She offered to pay the bill.
To be profitable; to be worth it.
It didn't pay him to keep the store open any more.
Crime doesn’t pay.
To cover, as a cost.
Those investments paid for her college education.
To yield as a benefit.
to pay dividends; to pay interest
You will get paid from this investment yearly.
To give (something else than money).
to pay attention, to pay tribute, to pay a visit
To suffer consequences, especially justly.
He paid for his fun in the sun with a terrible sunburn.
To admit that a joke, punchline, etc., was funny.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English payen, from Old French paiier (“pay”), from Medieval Latin pācāre (“to settle, satisfy”) from Latin pācāre (“to pacify”). In this sense, displaced native Old English ġield (“pay”) and ġieldan (“to pay”), whence Modern English yield.
Money given in return for work; salary or wages.
Many employers have rules designed to keep employees from comparing their pays.
A paying job; a paying concern.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English payen, from Old French paiier (“pay”), from Medieval Latin pācāre (“to settle, satisfy”) from Latin pācāre (“to pacify”). In this sense, displaced native Old English ġield (“pay”) and ġieldan (“to pay”), whence Modern English yield.
Operable or accessible on deposit of coins.
pay toilet
Pertaining to or requiring payment.
pay television
Where this word comes from
From Middle English payen, from Old French paiier (“pay”), from Medieval Latin pācāre (“to settle, satisfy”) from Latin pācāre (“to pacify”). In this sense, displaced native Old English ġield (“pay”) and ġieldan (“to pay”), whence Modern English yield.
To cover (the bottom of a vessel, a seam, a spar, etc.) with tar or pitch, or a waterproof composition of tallow, resin, etc.; to smear.
Where this word comes from
From Old French peier, from Latin picāre (“to cover with pitch”).
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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.