# change
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English changen, chaungen, from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambiāre, from Latin cambīre (“exchange, barter”), derived from the noun cambium (“change”) (whence was loaned the English doublet cambium), from Gaulish cambion, earlier *kambyom (“change”), related to Proto-Celtic *kambos (“twisted, crooked”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₂(e)mbos, *(s)kh₂(e)mbos (“crooked”); see *kh₂em-.
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: /t͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/
* Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪndʒ

### Verb

change (third-person singular simple present changes, present participle changing, simple past and past participle changed)
* (intransitive) To become something different.
    The tadpole changed into a frog. Stock prices are constantly changing.
* (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, 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 [...]
** 1988 March 21, Heart of Glory (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (Science Fiction), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:KORRIS: They shunned you. Cursed you. Called you vile names, and you knew not why. Even now do you know why you are driven? Why you cannot relent -- or repent -- or confess -- or abstain? How could you know? There have been no other Klingons to lead you to that knowledge. WORF: Yes -- yes -- those feelings are still a part of me, but I control them. They do not rule me. KORRIS: Yes, to fit in, the humans demand you change the one thing that you cannot change. But because you cannot -- you do. That too is the mark of the warrior.
** 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.
* (transitive) To replace.
** 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 193:Towards the end of the nineteenth century, boys who had pretended soldiers down through the centuries, now changed their pikes and swords for toy pistols.
    Ask the janitor to come and change the lightbulb. After a brisk walk, I washed up and changed my shirt.
* (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.
* (transitive) To replace the clothing of (the one wearing it).
    It's your turn to change the baby.
* (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.
* (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, [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.
* (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
* antichange
* baby changing station
* changeable
* change by reversal
* change course
* change direction
* change down
* changeful
* change hands
* change horses in mid-stream
* change horses in midstream
* 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
* overchange
* presto change-o
* rechange
* stem-changing verb
* the more things change, the more they stay the same
* tide of change
* transchange
* unchange

#### Related terms

* exchange

#### Descendants

* → Cantonese: 唱 (coeng$^3$)
* → Kashubian: sczeńdżowac (Canada)

#### Translations

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

### Noun

change (countable and uncountable, plural changes)
* (countable, uncountable) The process of becoming different.
** 2008, Nick Cave, “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.
* (uncountable) Small denominations of money given in exchange for a larger denomination.
    Can I get change for this $100 bill, please?
* (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.
* (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.
* (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.
* (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.
* (baseball) A change-up pitch.
* (campanology) Any order in which a number of bells are struck, other than that of the diatonic scale.
** 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters: […], London: […] T. N[ewcomb] for J[ohn] Martyn printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC:Four bells admit twenty-four changes in ringing.
* (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.

#### 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
* changeability
* change agent
* change aversion
* change bag
* change key
* changeless
* changelog
* change log
* changemaker
* changemaking
* change management
* change of air
* change of clothes
* 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
* changeout
* change parade
* changepoint
* change purse
* change-ringing
* change ringing
* changeroom
* changeset
* change-up
* change wheel
* changiness
* charter change
* chemical change
* chord change
* chump change
* chump-change
* chump change
* chunk of change
* climate change
* cool change
* costume change
* deflection change
* fatty change
* foldchange
* for a change
* gear change
* Hopey McChange
* hour change
* keep the change
* key change
* language change
* loose change
* megachange
* microchange
* minimal change disease
* multichange
* name change
* net change
* oil change
* outerchange
* overchange
* phase change
* physical change
* pocket change
* put the change on someone
* quick-change
* quick-change artist
* rechange
* regime change
* seachange
* sea change
* sea-change
* seed change
* sex change
* sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts
* sexual orientation change efforts
* shortchange
* small change
* sound change
* spange
* spanger
* spare change
* step change
* take your change out of that
* technological change
* the change
* time change
* treechange
* truck driver's gear change
* unchange
* wind of change
* winds of change

#### Related terms

* (transfer): interchange
* exact change

#### Collocations

* 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.

#### Descendants

* → Bulgarian: чейндж (čejndž)
* → Russian: чейндж (čejndž)
** → Armenian: չեյնջ (čʻeynǰ), չենջ (čʻenǰ)

#### Translations

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

#### 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

* John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “change”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʃɑ̃ʒ/

### Etymology 1

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

#### Noun

change m (usually uncountable, plural changes)
* exchange
    bureau de change ― currency exchange
    taux de change ― exchange rate
    agent de change ― foreign exchange dealer, foreign exchange broker
    lettre de change ― bill of exchange

##### Derived terms

* donner le change
* gagner au change
* perdre au change

##### Related terms

* échange

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

change
* inflection of changer:
** first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
** second-person singular imperative

### Further reading

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

## Middle English
### Etymology 1
#### Noun

change
* Alternative form of chaunge

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

change
* Alternative form of chaungen

## Norman
### Alternative forms

* chànge (Guernsey)

### Etymology

Borrowed from French change and English change.

### Noun

change m (plural changes)
* (Jersey) change
* (Jersey, money) exchange rate

## Old French
### Alternative forms

* cange (Anglo-Norman)

### Etymology

Deverbal of changier.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈt͡ʃan.d͡ʒə/

### Noun

change oblique singular, m (oblique plural changes, nominative singular changes, nominative plural change)
* change (difference between one state and another)
* exchange
** late 12th century, anonymous author, “La Folie de Tristan d'Oxford”, in Le Roman de Tristan, Champion Classiques edition, →ISBN, page 368, line 289:Fesum bargaine, fesum changeLet's make a bargain, let's make an exchange

#### Descendants

* French: change
* Middle English: chaunge, change, chaung, chawnge, cheaunge, chong, chonge
** English: change
** Scots: cheenge, chinge, cheynge