Etymology: The two main forms are apparently adopted respectively from Old Norse gagn (Swedish gagn , Danish gavn ) and gegn , parallel forms of a noun developed from the absolute use of the neuter of the adjective gegn (see gain adj.). The word became obsolete in the 15th century, about which time the French gain came into the language, with a closely allied meaning. See gain n.²

Etymology: < Old French gain, gaain (modern French gain ) masculine, gaigne , gaaigne (feminine) (modern French gagne ), < gaaigner gain v.²The Old French nouns had, in addition to the senses adopted in English, other senses related to those of the verb, e.g. ‘cultivated land’, ‘crop’, ‘harvest’.

Etymology: Of obscure origin; in sense 1 it might be a use of gain n.² It is not certain that senses 1, 2 belong to the same word.

Etymology: < Old Norse gegn adjective, straight, direct, favourable, helpful < Old Germanic *gagino- , gagano- , whence Old English *gęgn (found once in the comparative: see below); otherwise the stem is not found as adjective outside Scandinavian, but occurs both in Scandinavian and West Germanic as a prefix (Old Norse gagn- , Old High German gagan- , -en- , gegin- , Middle High German and modern German gegen- , Old English gęgn : see gain- prefix), and in prepositional and adverbial forms (Old Norse gegn against, right opposite, contrary to, gegnum through, Old High German gagan , gegin , Middle High German and modern German gegen towards, opposite to, Old English gęgninga directly, straightway, altogether, gęgnum forward; and see gain prep.). For the root of the Germanic *gagano-, -ino-, which seems to express the sense of direct motion or direct opposition, no certain explanation is known. Some have supposed it formed by reduplication from the root of Go, and cognate with the (also reduplicated) Greek κίχημι I attain, meet with.

Etymology: < Old Norse gegna, primarily, to meet, encounter, hence, to be meet, fit or suitable, from the adjective and adverb gegn against, opposite to (compare gain adj.). The form gawne may be due to the less common Old Norse gagna , a derivative of gagn = gegn , but was perhaps influenced by the vowel of gawin , the northern variant of gain n.¹

Etymology: Apparently first recorded in 16th cent.; < French gagner (earlier spelling gaigner ) < Old French gaaignier = Provençal gazanhar , Old Spanish guadañar (to mow), Italian guadagnare < Common Romance *gwadaniare , < Old High German *weidinjan (recorded form weidenen ), used in two main senses (1) to graze, pasture, (2) to go in quest of fodder or food, to forage, hunt or fish, < weida strong feminine, fodder or food, pasture, pursuit of fodder or food, hunting (modern German weide pasture, pasturage), corresponding to Old English wáð , Old Norse veið-r hunting < Old Germanic *waiþâ , -þjâ . The twofold sense of the Old High German verb seems to be reflected in the Romance form, which was used for ‘to cultivate land’ (so in Old French; see gain v.³, gainage n., gainor n.¹), as well as for ‘to gain, win, earn’; the latter sense, which the word retains in modern French and Italian, may be in part developed from the Old High German sense ‘to hunt’.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman gaaignier to cultivate (land).

Etymology: < gain n.³

Etymology: < gain adj.

Etymology: apparently arising from separation of the prefix gain- prefix.

Etymology: apparently < Old Norse gegn: see gain adj.Not known in Old English, the instances given in dictionaries being due to erroneous readings. Ormin's ȝæn seems to be short for onnȝæn again prep.