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From Middle English changen, chaungen, from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambiāre, from Latin cambīre (“to exchange, barter”), derived from the noun cambium (“change”) (whence was loaned the English doublet cambium), from Gaulish cambion, earlier *kambyom (“change”), related to Proto-Celtic *kambos (“twisted, crooked”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₂(e)mbos, *(s)kh₂(e)mbos (“crooked”). More at skimp, scam; see also Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em-.

Cognate with Italian cambiare, Portuguese cambiar, Romanian schimba, Sicilian canciari, Spanish cambiar. Used in English since the 13th century. Displaced Middle English wenden, from wendan (“to turn, change”) (whence wend).

The noun is from Middle English change, chaunge, from Old French change, from the verb changier. See also exchange. Possibly related from the same source is Old English gombe.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/, [ˈt͡ʃʰeɪ̯nd͡ʒ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɛjnd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (Standard Southern British):

    (file)

• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃæɪnd͡ʒ/, [ˈt͡ʃʰæ̝ɪ̯nd͡ʒ]
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃend͡ʒ/
• (Northern England, Ireland monophthongization) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃeːnd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -eɪndʒ
• Hyphenation: change

change (third-person singular simple present changes, present participle changing, simple past and past participle changed)

1. (intransitive) To become something different.

   The tadpole changed into a frog.

   Stock prices are constantly changing.

2. (transitive, ergative) To make something into something else.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 1:

     Lo I the man, whoſe Muſe whilome did maske,
     As time her taught in lowly Shepheards weeds,
     Am now enforſt a far unfitter taske,
     For trumpets ſterne to chaunge mine oaten reeds,
     And ſinge of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds […]

   • 1988 March 21, Heart of Glory (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:

     KORRIS: They shunned you. Cursed you. Called you vile names, and you knew not why. Even now do you know why you are driven? Why you cannot relent—or repent—or confess—or abstain? How could you know? There have been no other Klingons to lead you to that knowledge.
     WORF: Yes—yes—those feelings are still a part of me, but I control them. They do not rule me.
     KORRIS: Yes, to fit in, the humans demand you change the one thing that you cannot change. But because you cannot—you do. That too is the mark of the warrior.

   • 2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 407, number 8835, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 31 May 2025, page 80:

     Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.

   • 2013 July–August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist‎^[2], archived from the original on 11 May 2017:

     Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. […] A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.

   The fairy changed the frog into a prince.

   I had to change the wording of the ad so it would fit.

3. (transitive) To replace.

   Ask the janitor to come and change the lightbulb.

   After a brisk walk, I washed up and changed my shirt.

   • 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 193:

     Towards the end of the nineteenth century, boys who had pretended soldiers down through the centuries, now changed their pikes and swords for toy pistols.

4. (intransitive) To replace one's clothing.

   You can't go into the dressing room while she’s changing.

   The clowns changed into their costumes before the circus started.

5. (transitive) To replace the clothing of (the one wearing it), especially to put a clean diaper on (someone).

   It’s your turn to change the baby.

6. (transitive) To replace the sheets on (a bed) with fresh clean ones.
7. (intransitive) To transfer to another vehicle (train, bus, etc.)
   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 66:

     After stopping at these stations, my train has become busy. Returning day-trippers make up a goodly number, along with young people heading for a night out in Bristol, which is where I change once again.

8. (archaic) To exchange.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     At the first sight / they have changed eyes. (exchanged looks)

   • 1662 Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue 2):

     I would give any thing to change a word or two with this person.

9. (transitive) To change hand while riding (a horse).

   to change a horse

• (to make something different): alter, modify, make another
• (to make something into something different): transform

• → Cantonese: 唱 (coeng³)
• → Kashubian: sczeńdżowac (Canada)

change (countable and uncountable, plural changes)

2. (countable, uncountable) The process or result of becoming different.

   The product is undergoing a change in order to improve it.

   Such much-needed changes to the exam format might have a serious effect on candidates' performance.

   • 2008, Nick Cave, “Jesus Of The Moon”, in Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:

     Cause people often talk about being scared of change / But for me I'm more afraid of things staying the same

   • 2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist‎^[3], volume 407, number 8835, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 February 2018, page 80:

     Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.

3. (uncountable) Small denominations of money given in exchange for a larger denomination.

   Can I get change for this $100 bill, please?

4. (countable) A replacement.

   a change of clothes

   • 2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2 - 2 Arsenal”, in BBC‎^[4], archived from the original on 17 October 2022:

     After beating champions Chelsea 3-1 on Boxing Day, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger made eight changes to his starting XI in an effort to freshen things up, with games against Birmingham and Manchester City to come in the next seven days.

   1. A replacement of a soiled diaper with a clean one; a diaper change.

      The baby needs a change

6. (uncountable) Balance of money returned from the sum paid after deducting the price of a purchase.

   A customer who pays with a 10-pound note for a £9 item receives one pound in change.

7. (uncountable) An amount of cash, usually in the form of coins, but sometimes inclusive of paper money.

   Do you have any change on you? I need to make a phone call.

   This bus ride requires exact change.

8. (countable) A transfer between vehicles.

   The train journey from Bristol to Nottingham includes a change at Birmingham.

   • 2019 October, John Glover, “Heathrow rail expansion”, in Modern Railways, page 72:

     It [the Elizabeth Line] will provide a 6tph (trains per hour) service and with a single change at Hayes & Harlington offer services towards Reading.

9. (baseball) A change-up pitch.
10. (campanology) Any order in which a number of bells are struck, other than that of the diatonic scale.
    • 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters: […], London: […] T. N[ewcomb] for J[ohn] Martyn printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC:

      Four bells admit twenty-four changes in ringing.

11. (Scotland, dated) A public house; an alehouse.
    • 1727-1728, Edward Burt, Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to his Friend in London

      They call an alehouse a change.

• (the process of becoming different): transition, transformation

• (transfer): interchange
• exact change

• → Bulgarian: чейндж (čejndž)
  • → Armenian: չեյնջ (čʻeynǰ), չենջ (čʻenǰ)

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “change”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

• IPA^(key): /ʃɑ̃ʒ/

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑ̃ʒ

Deverbal from changer (corresponding to Old French change). Compare Medieval and Late Latin cambium.

change m (usually uncountable, plural changes)

1. exchange

   bureau de change ― currency exchange

   taux de change ― exchange rate

   agent de change ― foreign exchange dealer, foreign exchange broker

   lettre de change ― bill of exchange

• donner le change
• gagner au change
• perdre au change

• échange

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

change

1. inflection of changer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “change”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

change

1. alternative form of chaunge

change

1. alternative form of chaungen

• chànge (Guernsey)

Borrowed from French change and English change.

change m (plural changes)

1. (Jersey) change
2. (Jersey, money) exchange rate

• cange (Anglo-Norman)

Deverbal of changier.

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃan.d͡ʒə/

change oblique singular, m (oblique plural changes, nominative singular changes, nominative plural change)

1. change (difference between one state and another)
2. exchange
   • late 12th century, anonymous author, “La Folie de Tristan d'Oxford”, in Le Roman de Tristan, Champion Classiques edition, →ISBN, page 368, line 289:

     Fesum bargaine, fesum change

     Let's make a bargain, let's make an exchange

• French: change
• Middle English: chaunge, change, chaung, chawnge, cheaunge, chong, chonge
  • English: change
    • → Bulgarian: чейндж (čejndž)
      • → Armenian: չեյնջ (čʻeynǰ), չենջ (čʻenǰ)
  • Scots: cheenge, chinge, cheynge