mortgage

mortgage

English

Alternative forms

• morgage (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English morgage and Middle French mortgage, from Anglo-Norman morgage, from Old French mort gage (“death pledge”), after a translation of judicial Medieval Latin mortuum wadium, from mortuum + wadium, from Frankish *wadi (“wager, pledge”). Compare gage and also wage. So called because the deal dies either when the debt is paid or when payment fails.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔː.ɡɪd͡ʒ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔɹ.ɡɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)ɡɪd͡ʒ
• Hyphenation: mort‧gage

Noun

mortgage (countable and uncountable, plural mortgages)

1. (law) A special form of secured loan where the purpose of the loan must be specified to the lender, to purchase assets that must be fixed (not movable) property, such as a house or piece of farm land. The assets are registered as the legal property of the borrower but the lender can seize them and dispose of them if they are not satisfied with the manner in which the repayment of the loan is conducted by the borrower. Once the loan is fully repaid, the lender loses this right of seizure and the assets are then deemed to be unencumbered.

   We're renting a property in the city centre because we can't afford to get a mortgage yet.

2. (obsolete) State of being pledged.

   lands given in mortgage

Derived terms

• anaconda mortgage
• mortgage-backed

Descendants

• → Mongolian: моргейж (morgejž)

Translations

special form of secured loan

Albanian: hipotekë (sq) f Arabic: رَهْن‎ (ar) m (rahn), رَهْن عَقَارِيّ‎ m (rahn ʿaqāriyy) Egyptian Arabic: رهن‎ m (rahn) Armenian: հիպոթեկ (hy) (hipotʿek) Asturian: hipoteca f Azerbaijani: ipoteka Basque: hipoteka (eu) Belarusian: іпатэ́ка f (ipatéka) Bulgarian: ипоте́ка (bg) f (ipotéka) Catalan: hipoteca (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 抵押 (zh) (dǐyā), 抵押貸款／抵押贷款 (dǐyā dàikuǎn), 按揭 (zh) (ànjiē), (home loan) 房貸／房贷 (zh) (fángdài) Cornish: marwostel m Czech: hypotéka (cs) f Danish: pant n, boliglån n Dutch: hypotheek (nl) m Esperanto: hipoteko Estonian: hüpoteek Finnish: asuntolaina (fi), kiinnelaina (fi) French: hypothèque (fr) f Friulian: ipoteche f Galician: hipoteca f Georgian: იპოთეკა (iṗoteḳa), გირაო (girao) German: Hypothek (de) f Greek: υποθήκη (el) f (ypothíki) Ancient: ὑποθήκη f (hupothḗkē) Hebrew: מַשְׁכַּנְתָּא‎ (he) f (mashkánta) Hindi: रेहन (hi) m (rehan), रहन (hi) m (rahan), बंधक (hi) m (bandhak), गिरवी (hi) f (girvī), (please verify) गिरो (hi) m (giro) Hungarian: jelzálog (hu), jelzálogkölcsön, jelzáloghitel (hu) Icelandic: húsnæðislán n, fasteignalán n, veðlán n Ido: hipoteko (io) Indonesian: hipotek (id) Interlingua: hypotheca Irish: morgáiste m Italian: ipoteca (it) f Japanese: 抵当 (ja) (ていとう, teitō), 抵当権 (ja) (ていとうけん, teitōken), 住宅ローン (じゅうたくローン, jūtaku rōn) Kazakh: ипотека (ipoteka) Khmer: និក្ខេប (nɨkkheep) Korean: 저당(抵當) (ko) (jeodang), 저당권(抵當權) (ko) (jeodanggwon), 모기지 론 (mogiji ron) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: îpotek (ku), rehîn (ku), gerew (ku) Kyrgyz: ипотека (ipoteka) Lao: ຈຳນອງ (cham nǭng), ຂອງຈຳນອງ (khǭng cham nǭng) Latin: pignus n, hypotheca f Latvian: hipotēka f Lithuanian: ipoteka f Lower Sorbian: hypoteka f Luxembourgish: Hypothéik f Macedonian: хипоте́ка f (hipotéka) Malay: gadai janji Malayalam: പണയം (ml) (paṇayaṃ) Maltese: ipoteka f Manx: gioaldeeaght Maori: mōkete Mirandese: heipoteca f Mongolian: Cyrillic: моргейж (morgejž) Norman: hypothèque f Norwegian: Bokmål: hypotek m, pantelån n, boliglån n Occitan: emprecairada f, empenhoradura f Pashto: رهن‎ (ps) (rahn), ګرو‎ m (graw) Persian: رهن‎ (fa) (rahn), گرو‎ (fa) (gerow), گرونامه‎ (fa) (gerownâme) Polish: hipoteka (pl) f Portuguese: hipoteca (pt) f Romanian: ipotecă (ro) f Romansch: ipoteca f Russian: ипоте́ка (ru) f (ipotéka) Scottish Gaelic: morgaidse Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: хипоте́ка f Roman: hipotéka (sh) f Slovak: hypotéka (sk) f Slovene: hipoteka (sl) f, zastavitev f Spanish: hipoteca (es) f Swahili: rehani Swedish: hypotek (sv) n Tajik: гаравпулӣ (garavpulī), ипотека (ipoteka), гаравнома (garavnoma), гаравхат (garavxat), раҳн (rahn) Tatar: ипотека (ipoteka) Thai: จำนอง (th) (jam-nɔɔng) Turkish: ipotek (tr), rehin (tr), tutu (tr) Turkmen: ipoteka Ukrainian: іпоте́ка (uk) (ipotéka) Upper Sorbian: hypoteka f Urdu: رَہْن‎ m (rahn), گِروی‎ f (girvī) Uyghur: رەنە‎ (rene) Uzbek: ipoteka (uz) Vietnamese: quyền cầm cố Welsh: morgais (cy) m

Verb

mortgage (third-person singular simple present mortgages, present participle mortgaging, simple past and past participle mortgaged)

1. (transitive, law) To borrow against a property, to obtain a loan for another purpose by giving away the right of seizure to the lender over a fixed property such as a house or piece of land; to pledge a property in order to get a loan.

   to mortgage a property, an estate, or a shop

   We mortgaged our house in order to start a company.

2. (transitive, figurative) To pledge and make liable; to make subject to obligation; to achieve an immediate result by paying for it in the long term.
   • 1982, Verne Moberg, The Truth and Work of Victoria Benedictsson, page 72:

     She mortgaged her future for the pleasures of the relationship with the sculptor, a relationship she knew would be short.

   • 2001, Antony Rowland, Tony Harrison and the Holocaust, page 193:

     Like a latter-day Faustus who has mortgaged his soul to the pursuit of his art, Harrison now desperately craves the paternal love from which his learning has estranged him.

Related terms

• mortgagee
• mortgager

Translations

to borrow against a property

Albanian: hipotekoj (sq) Arabic: Egyptian Arabic: رهن‎ (rahan) Asturian: hipotecar Basque: hipotekatu Bulgarian: ипотеки́рам (ipotekíram) Catalan: hipotecar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 按揭 (zh) (ànjiē), 抵押 (zh) (dǐyā), 質押／质押 (zh), 质押 (zh) (zhíyā) Cornish: marwostla Dutch: hypothekeren (nl), lijfrente afsluiten, verpanden (nl) Esperanto: hipoteki Finnish: kiinnittää (fi) French: hypothéquer (fr) Friulian: ipotecâ Galician: hipotecar Georgian: დაგირავება (dagiraveba) German: verpfänden (de), eine Hypothek aufnehmen Greek: υποθηκεύω (el) (ypothikévo) Hebrew: משכן‎ (he) (mishkén) Hindi: गिरवी (hi) (girvī), रेहन (hi) (rehan) Hungarian: jelzáloggal terhel, jelzálogot tesz/tetet rá, elzálogosít (hu) Ido: hipotekizar (io) Interlingua: hypothecar Italian: ipotecare (it) Latin: pignerō Luxembourgish: hypothekéieren Maori: mōkete Occitan: emprecairar Polish: obciążać hipotekę Portuguese: hipotecar (pt) Romansch: prender si in'ipoteca Slovene: zastaviti Spanish: hipotecar (es) Swedish: belåna (sv), inteckna (sv) Thai: จำนอง (th) (jam-nɔɔng) Turkish: ipotek vermek, rehin vermek, tutu vermek Welsh: morgeisio (cy), arwystlo