# pawn
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /pɔːn/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /pɔn/
* (cot–caught merger) IPA: /pɑn/
* (Southern US) IPA: /pɑɒn/
* Homophone: porn (non-rhotic)
* Rhymes: -ɔːn

### Etymology 1

From Middle English pown, from Anglo-Norman poun, paun (“footman”), from Late Latin pedōnem (“pedestrian”), derived fom Latin ped- (“foot”). Doublet of peon.

#### Noun

pawn (plural pawns)
* (chess) The most numerous chess piece, or a similar piece in a similar game. In chess, each side starts with eight; moves are only forward, and attacks are only diagonally or en passant.
* (figurative) Someone who is being manipulated or used to some end.
    Though a pawn of the gods, her departure is the precipitating cause of the Trojan War.
** 2022 December 14, Mel Holley, “Network News: Strikes go on as RMT rejects RDG's "detrimental" offer”, in RAIL, number 972, page 9:He delivered a broadside to the RMT leadership, saying: "This response to a significantly enhanced offer exposes their true priority - using the British public and NR workers as pawns in a fight with the Government.

##### Synonyms

* (chess piece): Thesaurus:pawn
* (someone manipulated): manipulee

##### Derived terms

* advanced pawn
* backward pawn
* bishop's pawn
* central pawn
* connected pawn
* doubled pawn
* hexapawn
* isolated pawn
* king's bishop's pawn
* king's knight's pawn
* king's pawn
* king's rook's pawn
* knight's pawn
* octopawn
* outside passed pawn
* passed pawn
* pawn break
* pawn chain
* pawn cube
* pawn grabbing
* pawn island
* pawn race
* pawn storm
* poisoned pawn
* queen's bishop's pawn
* queen's knight's pawn
* queen's pawn
* queen's rook's pawn
* remote passed pawn
* rook's pawn
* tall pawn
* tripled pawn
* wrong rook pawn

##### Translations
#### See also

* Pawn (chess) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Appendix:Chess pieces
Chess pieces in English · chess pieces, chessmen (see also: chess) (layout · text) :
| king | queen | rook, castle | bishop | knight | pawn |

### Etymology 2

From Middle French pan (“pledge, security”), apparently from a Germanic language (compare Middle Dutch pant, Old High German pfant).

#### Noun

pawn (countable and uncountable, plural pawns)
* (uncountable) The state of being held as security for a loan, or as a pledge.
    All our jewellery was in pawn by this stage.
* An instance of pawning something.
** 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown.
** 1624, John Donne, “19. Prayer”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, page 508:As therefore the morning devv, is a pavvne of the evenings fatneſſe, ſo, O Lord, let this daies comfort be the earneſt of to morrowes, […]
* (archaic) An item given as security on a loan, or as a pledge.
** c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:My life I never held but as a pawn / To wage against thy enemies.
** 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:Brokers, takers of pawns, biting userers, I will not admit; yet […] I will tolerate some kind of usery.
** 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Usury”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:As for mortgaging or pawning, […] men will not take pawns without use [i.e. interest].
* (rare) A pawnshop; pawnbroker.

##### Derived terms

* pawnbroker
* pawnee
* pawner
* pawning
* pawnshop

##### Translations
#### Verb

pawn (third-person singular simple present pawns, present participle pawning, simple past and past participle pawned)
* (transitive) To pledge; to stake or wager.
* (transitive) To give as security on a loan of money; especially, to deposit (something) at a pawn shop.
** 1904, Henry Warren, The Customer's Guide to Banking, page 7:A certain, and probably an appreciable, proportion of his so-called money at call and short notice would consist of fortnightly advances made to members of the Stock Exchange against pawned stocks and shares.
** 1965, Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone:But you'd better take your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it, babe.

##### Synonyms

* (to deposit at a pawn shop): hock, lumber, pledge, spout, vamp

##### Derived terms

* pawn off as

##### See also

* pawn off

### Etymology 3
#### Noun

pawn (countable and uncountable, plural pawns)
* Alternative form of paan
** 1832, Meer Hassan Ali, Observations on the Mussulmauns of India:A tray filled with pawns, prepared with the usual ingredients, as lime cuttie (a bitter gum), betel-nut, tobacco, spices, &c.
** 1892, Chambers's Journal, volume 69, page 320:To our English taste, pawn is very offensive; but the natives of India relish it, and regard it as a necessity. It is much eaten by Mohammedans of both sexes, and by the natives of Bengal.

### Etymology 4

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

#### Noun

pawn (plural pawns)
* A gallery.

### Etymology 5
#### Verb

pawn (third-person singular simple present pawns, present participle pawning, simple past and past participle pawned)
* (video games) Alternative form of pwn

### Anagrams

* WPAN

## Middle English
### Noun

pawn
* Alternative form of pown (“pawn”)