What does wage mean?
A wage is payment received for work or services. It commonly refers to a regular hourly or daily rate, though it can also mean compensation more generally, as in a fair wage for a difficult job. In everyday discussion about employment, wages often refers to the total amount someone earns, while pay may sound more informal and can include bonuses, benefits, or payment for a particular piece of work. As a verb, wage means to engage in or carry on a sustained struggle or effort, especially a war, campaign, or contest. The verb is formal and commonly occurs in expressions such as wage war and wage a campaign. Though pay is often the simplest general term, wage remains useful when the emphasis is on the amount received for labor or on the idea of compensation.
Payment made for work or services, especially a regular payment made to an employee.
"The workers received a higher wage when the company expanded."
The plural wages is common when referring to the payment received by workers generally or collectively.
To engage in or carry on a war, campaign, contest, or similar effort.
"The two sides continued to wage a bitter campaign for control of the region."
This use is formal and is normally transitive, taking an object such as war, campaign, protest, or contest.
The plural is standard and is often used collectively for the payment received by workers or for the general level of compensation.
"The workers negotiated for higher wages and better benefits."
Wage and way share a distant linguistic root: one means what you are paid, while the other means how you do something.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does wage come from?
The English word entered Middle English through Old North French wage and Medieval Latin wages. It is generally traced to Proto-Germanic *waga, an ancestral form related to Old English waga, meaning payment or wages. Proto-Germanic *waga is commonly connected with the Indo-European root *weg-, meaning to move or carry, which also underlies words such as way and wagon and appears in Latin-derived forms such as vehicle.
Related word forms
How wage is actually used
In employment contexts, wage often emphasizes regular payment, whereas pay is broader and more informal. As a verb, wage is usually used transitively with nouns such as war, campaign, protest, or contest.
Easily confused with wage
A wage is payment for work, whereas a way is a method, route, or manner of doing something; the two words are pronounced alike in most accents.