Bribe
/braɪb/noun
A sum or gift offered or given to someone to corrupt their behavior or decision-making.
Did you know?The word entered English with the sense of a beggar’s alms or a piece of bread, and only later hardened into the meaning of illicit payment, showing how words can be morally “turned.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bhreu-
“to boil, bubble, brew”
Old French
OF
bribe
“a piece of bread; a scrap; alms”
Middle English
ME
bribe
“a morsel, fragment, or alms”
16th Century
English
bribe
“a gift or reward given to influence conduct”
Modern English
English
bribe
“money or favor offered to corrupt or unlawfully influence someone”