ENGLISH
REFERENCE

wage

n. · v.
US //ˈweɪdʒ// UK //wˈeɪdʒ// wage
  1. 1 payment for work (n.)
    B1 Intermediate

    the money a worker receives, usually based on the number of hours they work.

    a regular payment made by an employer to an employee, typically calculated on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis.

    Example

    The company increased the minimum wage for all its warehouse staff this year.

    Example

    Economists argue that a significant rise in the real wage can stimulate consumer spending but may also lead to inflationary pressures.

    Usage

    Often used in the plural ('wages') when referring to the total money earned.
    Pitfall
    My monthly wage is very high.
    My monthly salary is very high.

    Use 'wage' for hourly or weekly pay (often for manual or service work) and 'salary' for a fixed annual amount paid monthly (often for professional office work).

  2. 2 to carry out a war or campaign (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    to start and continue a war, a fight, or a long organized plan.

    to carry on or conduct a war, protest, or systematic campaign. Transitive — requires a direct object like 'war' or 'campaign'.

    Example

    The health department is planning to wage a campaign against smoking in public parks.

    Example

    The rebel forces continued to wage a guerrilla war against the government for over a decade despite dwindling resources.

    Usage

    Almost exclusively collocates with 'war', 'campaign', 'battle', or 'struggle'.
Etymology 1

From Middle English wage, from Anglo-Norman wage, from Old Northern French wage, a northern variant of Old French gauge, guage (whence modern French gage), Medieval Latin wadium, from Frankish waddī (cognate with Old English wedd), from Proto-Germanic wadją (“pledge”), from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- (“to pledge, redeem a pledge”). Akin to Old Norse veðja (“to pledge”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌳𐌹 (wadi), Dutch wedde. Compare also the doublet gage. More at wed.

Etymology 2

From Middle English wagen (“to pledge”), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wagier, a northern variant of Old French guagier (whence modern French gager), itself either from guage or from a derivative of Frankish waddī, possibly through a Vulgar Latin intermediate wadiō from *wadium.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Word family
Related words

Last updated June 19, 2026