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单词 change
释义

change

See also: changé, chànge, Cháng'é, and 'Change

English

Etymology

From Middle English changen, chaungen, from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambiāre, from Latin cambīre, present active infinitive of cambiō (“exchange, barter”), from Gaulish cambion, *kambyom (“change”), from Proto-Celtic *kambos (“twisted, crooked”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱambos, *(s)kambos (“crooked”).

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

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: chānj, IPA(key): /t͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/
  • Audio (RP)(file)
  • Audio (GA)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪnd͡ʒ

Verb

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 960102938, 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 [...]
    • 2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8835, 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:
      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.
  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).
    It's your turn to change the baby.
  6. (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.
  7. (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 606515358, [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.
  8. (transitive) To change hand while riding (a horse).
    to change a horse

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

  • a leopard cannot change its spots
  • all change
  • alter or change
  • baby changing station
  • changeable
  • change by reversal
  • change course
  • change direction
  • change down
  • changeful
  • change hands
  • change horses in midstream
  • change horses in mid-stream
  • change integrity
  • change like seasons
  • change like the seasons
  • changeling
  • change one's battery
  • change oneself
  • change one's mind
  • change one's spots
  • change one's story
  • change one's tune
  • change one's ways
  • change out
  • change over
  • change places
  • change sides
  • change someone's mind
  • change someone's tune
  • change tack
  • change the channel
  • change the game
  • change the leg
  • change the record
  • change the subject
  • change up
  • changing of the guard
  • changing pad
  • changing room
  • changing table
  • chop and change
  • chopping and changing
  • climate-changing
  • don't change a winning team
  • everchanging, ever-changing
  • get changed
  • life-changing
  • money changing
  • never change a running system
  • presto change-o
  • the more things change, the more they stay the same
  • exchange

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

change (countable and uncountable, plural changes)

Loose change
  1. (countable, uncountable) The process of becoming different.
    • 2008, Nick Cave (lyrics and music), “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, volume 407, number 8835, 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.
    The product is undergoing a change in order to improve it.
  2. (uncountable) Small denominations of money given in exchange for a larger denomination.
    Can I get change for this $100 bill please?
  3. (countable) A replacement.
    a change of clothes
    • 2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2 - 2 Arsenal”, in BBC‎:
      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.
  4. (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.
  5. (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.
  6. (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.
  7. (baseball) A change-up pitch.
  8. (campanology) Any order in which a number of bells are struck, other than that of the diatonic scale.
    • 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech
      Four bells admit twenty-four changes in ringing.
  9. (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.

Usage notes

  • Adjectives often applied to "change": big, small, major, minor, dramatic, drastic, rapid, slow, gradual, radical, evolutionary, revolutionary, abrupt, sudden, unexpected, incremental, social, economic, organizational, technological, personal, cultural, political, technical, environmental, institutional, educational, genetic, physical, chemical, industrial, geological, global, local, good, bad, positive, negative, significant, important, structural, strategic, tactical.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

  • a change is as good as a rest
  • and change
  • baby change
  • ball change
  • breaking change
  • bureau de change
  • career change
  • change agent
  • change aversion
  • change key
  • change log
  • change management
  • change of air
  • change-off
  • change of heart
  • change of innings
  • change of life
  • change of mind
  • change of pace
  • change of scene
  • change of scenery
  • change of state
  • change of tack
  • change of tune
  • change of venue
  • change order
  • change purse
  • change-ringing
  • change ringing
  • change-up
  • change wheel
  • chemical change
  • chord change
  • chump-change
  • chump change
  • chump change
  • chunk of change
  • climate change
  • cool change
  • deflection change
  • fatty change
  • for a change
  • gear change
  • hour change
  • keep the change
  • loose change
  • name change
  • net change
  • oil change
  • phase change
  • physical change
  • pocket change
  • put the change on someone
  • quick-change
  • quick-change artist
  • regime change
  • sea change
  • sea-change
  • seed change
  • sex change
  • shortchange
  • small change
  • sound change
  • spare change
  • step change
  • technological change
  • the change
  • truck driver's gear change
  • wind of change
  • (transfer): interchange
  • exact change

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

  • alteration
  • evolution
  • modification
  • mutation
  • plus ça change(, plus c'est la même chose) (“the more things change, the more they stay the same”)
  • reorganization
  • transformation

References

  • “change”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʃɑ̃ʒ/

Noun

change m (plural changes)

  1. exchange

Derived terms

  • bureau de change
  • donner le change
  • gagner au change
  • lettre de change
  • taux de change

Verb

change

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

Further reading

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

Norman

Alternative forms

  • chànge (Guernsey)

Etymology

Borrowed from French change and English change.

Noun

change m (plural changes)

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

Old French

Alternative forms

  • cange (Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

Deverbal of changier.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃan.d͡ʒə/

Noun

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

  1. change (difference between one state and another)
  2. exchange
    • late 12th century, anonymous, La Folie de Tristan d'Oxford, page 368 (of the Champion Classiques edition of Le Roman de Tristan, →ISBN, line 289:
      Fesum bargaine, fesum change
      Let's make a bargain, let's make an exchange

Descendants

  • → Middle English: change
    • English: change
  • French: change
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