Pawned
/pɔːnd/noun
Past tense and past participle of pawn, meaning to leave something as security for a debt or to place a piece in chess.
Did you know?The money-lending sense of pawn ultimately traces back to a root meaning “to pledge,” while the chess piece name comes through French and has nothing to do with the loan word’s later financial meaning.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*peh₂-
“to protect, feed, or tend”
Latin
Latin
pānis
“bread; food”
Old French
Old French
pan
“a pawn in chess”
Middle English
English
pawn
“a chess piece; later, something deposited as security for a loan”
Modern English
English
pawned
“left as security for a debt; used in the past tense of pawn”
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