change
n. C / Un. the result of something becoming different, or the process of making it different. You also use this word for the coins you get back when you pay with a large bill.
n. the act or instance of making or becoming different, or the result of this process. It also frequently refers to the balance of money returned when a payment exceeds the price.
We need a change in the weather before we can go sailing.
The new manager introduced a major change to the schedule, giving everyone an extra day off each month.
While technological change often disrupts established industries, it simultaneously creates entirely new sectors that demand different skills and innovative approaches to problem-solving.
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.
Uncountable when referring to the general concept of alteration or to returned money; countable when referring to a specific instance of difference.